Saw my buddy with the Rivian R1S last night. His truck is in the shop....again. I think this is the 4th or 5th time in the 6 months he's had it. His battery died (the battery that powers the screen, windows, etc) about 3 weeks ago so he had that replaced (took 3 days). Got it back, had it for a few days and then couldn't open the rear hatch at all. No mobile tech options like Tesla, so every time it has to get towed to Miami (about 80 miles away) and takes multiple days to get it back. One they had to send 2 tow trucks to his house: 1 to get it out of the garage, and the other as the flatbed to take it to Miami. No Rivian loaners, so they hook him up with something at Enterprise but he has to go there and pick it up. He's being patient about it but I don't think I'd have the same level of patience.

 

Some of the earlier VINs are pretty bad build quality wise, I'll try and find the vid I saw of one being detailed.

edit -

 

His issues have been exclusive to functionality, not things like panel gaps, etc. mentioned in this video.

 

Oh man, somebody might loose their job over that depending on how long ago that station was powered up.

In factories, three phase @ 480vac is common.
It should never have arc'd out and caught fire like that.

Spoiler alert, it wasn't the charger that caught fire but the incoming switchgear.

If I understood correctly.
Only listened to the beginning to get the jist

 

Insufficient clamping force. 🔥

 

They do have mobile service so I do wonder if they wanted to get it in the shop to get a closer look at it. Service centers have been a big complaint on the Rivian forums because they're not building them out fast enough, but they keep opening 'Spaces' which are glorified show rooms which makes people even more upset. I get that staffing show rooms is easier than finding technicians, but optics are poor when the wait for service is 2-3 months out

 

Oh interesting, he said they don't have mobile. Either he is mistaken or I wonder if it's only offered within some type of radius of a service center? What's crazy is apparently there is a service center in Orlando and a service center in Miami but nothing between the two (that's about a 4 hour drive). Someone that lives between the two cities would have to deal with 2 hour drive to get their vehicle to service (or towed there). That would not be pleasant.

 

^^ This is some of the reasons I would be reluctant to get a Rivian right now. I'm seeing lots of them on the road, but I'm also hearing lots of reports of owner issues, which I'm sure will clear up over time. The reasons for getting a Rivian would be as a family SUV for travel, but the Y handles that duty as well as commuter duty perfectly. I'm already way past 10K, taken it on multiple trips, put it through it paces. My biggest worry on a trip is not breaking down, but an accident (getting hit, hitting an object etc.) and getting a flat tire. In California, there are 48 Tesla service centers between NorCal and SoCal, so I'm not even worried about breaking down. And of course charging on trips is literally a no brainer all across the state, with maybe a few remote locations.

BTW something interesting I discovered. As we were coming home, a tumbleweed rolled across the highway, I was using Traffic Aware cruise control, and my Y spotted it in the distance and slowed itself down, timing itself perfectly so the tumbleweed rolled across the highway, then proceeded to speed up! I thought that was pretty cool

 

Yeah they're definitely lacking there. When I had to have a couple issues fixed, I had to drive to Brooklyn which is 2+ hours away depending on traffic. I hear they're about to open 2 in NJ with 1 already doing deliveries, but not sure if they're doing full service there yet.

 

This is very similar to my experience
https://driveteslacanada.ca/news/new...st-in-finland/
Talked to a friend that has a Model S P90D their range dropped by at least 50% during our cold spell.

 

Same with my (custom-ordered, Individual) M3. I watched it appear on my dealer's website, than disappear a day or two later, because my dealer is on the ball and manually took it down after BMW published it. A lot of dealers don't care, and in fact it's counter productive for them to correct the online system. They might get customers stopping in because they saw an "available" vehicle that isn't actually for sale.

 

Same. I put a deposit on 2 cars last year and both appeared for sale before/while they were being built.

Before ordering mine I ran into that numerous times thinking a car was available but was already spoken for. Salesperson told me Toyota makes them do that.

 

Who could have predicted this

 

could be a plot to lower expectations and then shock everyone later.

 

Maybe they are waiting for Lucid's Saudi money to dry up so they can scoop it up. Apple getting into EV'S just doesn't sound appealing to me. It's one thing selling an iPhone for $1000, another selling a car for $100k. And the billions you would need to invest in factories and service centers. Doesn't sound like a good idea