Rivian R1S

Truly a great experience

Jesse •

We rented this 2022 Rivian R1S Quad Motor Large Pack for a 1,500-mile road trip to Lake Tahoe, and overall, we absolutely loved it. The hosts were fantastic from start to finish. The R1S was in excellent condition, communication was great, and pickup and drop-off couldn't have been easier.

We don't currently own an EV, so part of the reason we rented the Rivian was to see if an EV could realistically fit our lifestyle. After 1,500 miles, I can definitely say that we were impressed!

The R1S is an absolute beast. It's incredibly comfortable, has plenty of power, and has TONS of room. We actually found that it had considerably more usable luggage space than our Range Rover, which was a pleasant surprise. The cameras are excellent and extremely helpful when parking such a large vehicle. The adaptive cruise control was also one of my favorite features on the entire trip. On a long road trip, it made driving significantly more relaxing. This vehicle is equipped with a semi autonomous driving feature that works on highways.

The Range Reality

This is probably the biggest thing I'd mention to anyone renting an EV for a long road trip.

Rivian advertises approximately 315 miles of range, but that's under ideal conditions and depends heavily on how and where you're driving. At around 75 mph, we were averaging closer to 240 miles of actual range.

One important note: We did all of our driving in Conserve mode, so all of our range and efficiency observations are based on that driving mode. Your results may vary depending on the drive mode, speed, weather, elevation, temperature, and driving style.

And there's another important consideration: you don't really want to arrive at a charger with 0% battery. We generally wanted to have around 10% remaining, so realistically, our comfortable driving distance between charging stops was closer to 200 miles.

Once we figured that out, the road trip became much easier. There is definitely a learning curve if you're coming from an ICE vehicle.

The Navigation System Was AMAZING

One of the things we LOVED about the Rivian was its navigation system.

When you enter a destination, the R1S automatically calculates your charging stops. But what really impressed us was how much information it gives you. It tells you what percentage of the battery you'll have when you arrive at your destination or charging stop, as well as approximately how many miles of range you'll have remaining at that battery percentage.

We found these estimates to be extremely accurate.

It also seemed to take things like elevation changes, climbs, descents, and regenerative braking into account when calculating the remaining range. That was incredibly helpful on a trip like ours through the mountains up 395.

This feature made a HUGE difference for us because we went into this trip worried about range anxiety. The Rivian's navigation essentially took that anxiety away. You weren't just guessing whether you were going to make it to the next charger — the truck was constantly calculating it for you.

You can also filter the charging networks in the navigation system, which allowed us to make sure our stops were at the charging company we preferred.

Charging

We found the Tesla Supercharger network to be the clear winner during our trip. The chargers were generally fast, convenient, and less expensive than the other networks we tried.

I'd highly recommend downloading the Tesla app and purchasing the monthly membership if you're going to do a road trip in this vehicle.

The membership is only $12, and you can cancel it at any time. In our experience, the savings from one full charge more than paid for the membership itself, so it was basically a no-brainer.

At a Tesla Supercharger, we typically went from around 10% to 80% in approximately 40 minutes.

Charging from 80% to 100% is a completely different story. The charging rate slows considerably as the battery gets closer to full, so going from 10% to 100% could take roughly another 40 minutes beyond the initial 10%-80% charging time. In other words, plan on around 1½ hours if you're determined to charge all the way to 100%.

That's definitely something to factor into your travel plans.

The Bottom Line

Is an EV as convenient as pulling into a gas station, filling up in five minutes and driving another 400+ miles?

No.

But after driving this R1S 1,500 miles, I was really impressed with how easy it became once we understood the charging routine. And the cost was a big surprise — charging the R1S was roughly half the cost of fueling a comparable ICE SUV for the same trip.

For around-town driving, I think this truck would be absolutely fantastic. For long road trips, you just have to approach it a little differently and plan your stops.

We rented this Rivian specifically to determine whether an EV could fit our lifestyle, and it definitely gave us something to think about! Thank you Kendl and Marcy. You both are AWESOME!!!

Peter •

Amazing car and host. Super clean, smooth ride, made my trip, 100% worth it.

Collin •

The car quality was amazing. It was beautiful and clean. Kendl and Marcy were amazing host. I would definitely rent from them again.

Shelley •

AMAZING vehicle and great communication! Loved it!

Jonathan •