Yeah he has one. Problem was the lack of charge stations and that many cars before him. Govt will have to get serious about it. Surely they would know bottlenecks.
Yeah he has one. Problem was the lack of charge stations and that many cars before him. Govt will have to get serious about it. Surely they would know bottlenecks.Tell him to buy a Tesla, they charge faster. Taking mine on a cross border holiday next month which will require 3 stops through a popular route, I’ll post my experience & and expenses.
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I wouldn't mind one (lots of features), but the front end looks crap. Another problem seems to be the range towing heavy weight. I wonder how they would go towing a caravan?The Rivian is one ugly looking "truck".
The only logic I can see is that it is very recognisable and you won't confuse the Rivian with other manufacturers.
The trick is to make your car easily recognisable and aesthetically pleasing at the same time. Porsche comes to mind.
ARB will sort out the front end, there is a lot of room for improvement as you say, a bullbar and a couple of 9" spotties would hide a lot of the uglyness.I wouldn't mind one (lots of features), but the front end looks crap. Another problem seems to be the range towing heavy weight. I wonder how they would go towing a caravan?
From the Video I posted where they towed a tandem trailer with an F150 on it over the rockies, they said it tows really well, indeed its torque allowed it to out accelerate the accompanying RAM truck even with the trailer attached to the Rivan.I wouldn't mind one (lots of features), but the front end looks crap. Another problem seems to be the range towing heavy weight. I wonder how they would go towing a caravan?
They Tow great, even if you get a little bit less range you do get the added benefit of being able to recharge at the caravan park while you sleep, so you might end up making less refueling stops than you would with a petrol truck.I wouldn't mind one (lots of features), but the front end looks crap. Another problem seems to be the range towing heavy weight. I wonder how they would go towing a caravan?
As an owner of an EV that uses regen braking everyday, I was surprised by the small amount the guys in the video regenerated to, I think their trailer brake settings were messing with them, obviously when the trailer brake is coming on it isn’t using regen.From the Video I posted where they towed a tandem trailer with an F150 on it over the rockies, they said it tows really well, indeed its torque allowed it to out accelerate the accompanying RAM truck even with the trailer attached to the Rivan.
Rivian also reccommended using load levellers, and with its hydraulic suspension lifting capabilities, it is relatively easy to get the chassis line of both the towed entity and the towing entity nicely in line.
So it looks like more than capable as a towing medium.
Until you look at the range.
The guys had to do a top up two thirds through the test.
I was a little surprised at how little the regeneration system refilled the batteries on those long downhill stretches coming out of the Rockies, so that part looks a bit gimmicky to me.
Given we don't have too many mountains (at least not like the rockies), range may be a little better on the flatter areas, but still not great.
Would be useful for towing along coastal areas where EV fill up points are available.
Not sure how useful they would be heading up the Oodnadatta track with a 3 ton kedron behind.
Mick
When using my diesel powered Ranger to tow a 2.5 tonne van, which has an 80 lite tank, I reckon on about 17l per 100 k's travelling at around 95 km/hr , which gives me just on 400 km range for a full tank.They Tow great, even if you get a little bit less range you do get the added benefit of being able to recharge at the caravan park while you sleep, so you might end up making less refueling stops than you would with a petrol truck.
let’s say on your average trip towing a van with a petrol vehicle you stop for fuel twice (once before you leave and one near your destination), with an electric vehicle you will have less stops, because you don’t need to fuel at the start of trip because you just charged at home, and you don’t need to refuel at the end because you will charge at your caravan site, but you will probably charge once during the trip, and that will be during a pee break anyway.
As I was pointing out though, before you leave on your trip you have to visit a fuel station where as the EV would have been fully charged in the morning, so your Diesel powered ranger is already one fuel stop behind the EV from the start, So even if you have to stop an put a bit of charge in the EV during your pee break 3 hours into your trip thats your first time you are actually stopping to charge, so both the ranger and the Ev are equal at that point.When using my diesel powered Ranger to tow a 2.5 tonne van, which has an 80 lite tank, I reckon on about 17l per 100 k's travelling at around 95 km/hr , which gives me just on 400 km range for a full tank.
if I had a Rivian, If the battery use was 30% better in OZ given its warmer and not so many hills, the range on towing would still be less than 400kms roughly around 320kms, but for comparison sake, we say both vehicles can make the 400 km's
Charging at the Caravan park is probably not going to work. You get a 15 amp supply to the Van for fridge light maybe aircon, Tv etc.
Lets be generous and say there is ten amps left to charge the vehicle, which means you can charge at 2.4 kw per hour.
Given the Rivian capacity is 136 Kw/hours, that would take a tad over 2 days to recharge.
if the caravan parks have too many vehicles, they are going to struggle to supply 15 amps to lots of sites, and would start charging a lot more for the caravan sites.
The reral problems come when you do not have access to either a caravan park or a powered site.
We have an off road van, completely self sufficient, but even on good days with plenty of sun and putting out an extra 250 watt solar panel,
we will at best be fully charged by mid to late morning, which does not leave much for recharging the Rivian and still running the power in the van.
You are going to have to stay in one place for days at a time
So yes its doable, but not exactly practical.
Mick
You are going to have to stay in one place for days at a time
my diesel powered Ranger to tow a 2.5 tonne van, which has an 80 lite tank
Quite correct, but also immaterial.Ouch.... thats going to cost you about $130 to fill isn't it?
VC you missed the point entirely.The Rivian is going to only cost you $25 to charge, and free if you charge at the caravan park, some people wouldn't see making a 15 min stop to save $100 as much of an inconvenience, especially if as I said its during a normal pee break, and you didn't have to stop to fuel at the start or end of the trip like a regular diesel or petrol.
When using my diesel powered Ranger to tow a 2.5 tonne van, which has an 80 lite tank, I reckon on about 17l per 100 k's travelling at around 95 km/hr , which gives me just on 400 km range for a full tank.
if I had a Rivian, If the battery use was 30% better in OZ given its warmer and not so many hills, the range on towing would still be less than 400kms roughly around 320kms, but for comparison sake, we say both vehicles can make the 400 km's
Charging at the Caravan park is probably not going to work. You get a 15 amp supply to the Van for fridge light maybe aircon, Tv etc.
Lets be generous and say there is ten amps left to charge the vehicle, which means you can charge at 2.4 kw per hour.
Given the Rivian capacity is 136 Kw/hours, that would take a tad over 2 days to recharge.
if the caravan parks have too many vehicles, they are going to struggle to supply 15 amps to lots of sites, and would start charging a lot more for the caravan sites.
The reral problems come when you do not have access to either a caravan park or a powered site.
We have an off road van, completely self sufficient, but even on good days with plenty of sun and putting out an extra 250 watt solar panel,
we will at best be fully charged by mid to late morning, which does not leave much for recharging the Rivian and still running the power in the van.
You are going to have to stay in one place for days at a time
So yes its doable, but not exactly practical.
Mick
Perhaps you did not read what I wrote.3.6kWh with 15A. Not many EV drivers would charge from empty.
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I did, and I have had your scenario multiple times with a 10A extension cord and the time to charge has not changed by much.Perhaps you did not read what I wrote.
I was talking about charging in a caravan park, where you get to connect one 15 amp lead for your van, from which you need to run all the electric items in the van, and what is left charges up the vans batteries.
Then , when the batteries are charged, it will have some power left over to charge an EV, but it will still be running the elctric items in the van, so at no stage will you have the full 15 amps to charge an EV.
But even if you could get a second plug point at 15 AMPS, at 3.6KWr from 50% charge it is going to take at least 19 hours to get that 50%.
And of course, if you can only allow the EV charge to go down to 50%, you only have 50% of your original range.
Its a catch 22.
To reduce the charging time, you have to reduce the range.
Plus it means you need the vehicle to stay connected for that time, which means no exploring unless on foot.
As I said, its doable, just not yet practical.
Mick
Even with a jerry can, the distance you can travel away from petrol stations is limited, and charging stations can be put pretty much anywhere their is petrol stations because petrol stations require electricity anyway, you could always use your jerry can to run a generator to charge your EV, in those situations turning your Ev into a hybrid for those couple of times a year you need a bit of extra range, but I think the majority of people wouldn't need to resort to that, especially as more and more chargers are being installed every where.VC you missed the point entirely.
For many of us caravaners, having a completely self sufficient van means we go to places where there is no water, no power, no sewerage.
You can't just pop down to the nearest maxi charge centre and fill up.
I carry extra jerry can of fuel because there is a lot of nothing between places of interest in outback OZ.
Charging an EV in the these places is just not possible, much less practical - yet.
Mick
But even if you could get a second plug point at 15 AMPS, at 3.6KWr from 50% charge it is going to take at least 19 hours to get that 50%.
And of course, if you can only allow the EV charge to go down to 50%, you only have 50% of your original range.
My Landcruiser has a 145 litre tank.....i'll see you all when you get here
We don't talk about thatOuch. What's that costing you these days?
Caravan power usage depends on many things.I did, and I have had your scenario multiple times with a 10A extension cord and the time to charge has not changed by much.
By the way, what power usage does a caravan have? A fridge/freezer, TV, lighting... surely they are not running 24 hours a day.
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