Just WOW.....RIVIAN TRUCK watch out TESLA

For now, yes. Early adopters know (at least they should) what they are getting into.

Electric cars are the future. I'm willing to bet that, unless something major happens with hydrogen, that over 50% of the new cars sold in 20 years are all electric.

 

I imagine in the late 19th century, a similar debate was happening about Karl Benz' first production automobile with an internal combustion engine. "Where do you get petrol for it?" "What happens if it breaks, who's going to fix it?" "I'll stick with my horse drawn carriage and my trusty steeds."

Fast forward 133 years and look how far technology has advanced. Whether we like it or not, electrical vehicles are here to stay and will continue to advance. I, for one, think this first pass at a bonafide all electric truck is pretty badass. We're all used to the soul crushing, man card burning designs from the likes of the Nissan Leaf, Toyota Prius, Chevy Volt, etc. so from a design perspective, the Rivian Truck and SUV is light years ahead of these vehicles. IMO, the SUV has similar lines to a Range Rover and Defender.

I'm not ready to trade my Tundra in just yet on one of these but I'm certainly looking forward to seeing how they hold up to real world conditions. If they prove to be a solid platform, I'll be happy to own one.

 

I partially agree with you. Hybrid vehicles (gas/electric) are great vehicles. If I read the article in questioned correctly, the proposed Tesla pickup truck would be a full EV, not a gas/electric. Full time electric vehicles in my opinion aren’t as reliable for bigger vehicles and for heavy duty, higher demand activities. The technology just isn’t there as yet. You referred to trains, yes, many of them do operate as full-time electric vehicles, if you want to call them that. However, those trains and similar vehicles do have a permanent connection to an electric source. There isn’t any train system that I know of that can and will operate on its own battery system.

I must clarify one important thing. I am all for with EVs and other hybrids. There are just some vehicle applications aren’t conducive for full-time EV setup as yet. I personally, would want to wait for this technology to be significantly improved, before I would be interested in purchasing a full size pickup truck that’s a straight EV.

 

Lol. I could tell that you knew that Toyota pickup trucks were battle-tested.

 

I imagine that they will be the future, or something else that will make our dinosaurs things of the past. And I imagine that in the future, enthusiasts will love the silent hum of nothingness from their vehicles But, I'll stick with my dated, contained explosion engine until they force me to do otherwise or until I die, whichever comes first. I love the sweet sound it makes, the smell of it, and the feel of it.

 

Originally I thought you were against the whole idea of electric. I agree, at this time, the full on electric truck will not meet my needs as we often take my truck on vacations so we would need something that could go long distances without having to wait for it to charge. If we can get 300 miles out of a 10 minute charge, it would work. But more near term, I think a plug in hybrid truck would be awesome, I could do my daily driving on pure electric and only use gas when I need long range or towing. Would not be surprised if this is the route that Toyota takes with the new Tundra. Imagine coming out with a hybrid that puts out 4-500hp with 6-700lbs of torque, it would blow the competition away while getting 30+ mpgs.
The battery lifetimes seem to be good enough at this point as far as how long they last before needing replacement. We do need to find a better way of mining or recycling them.

 

I agree and I don't have any issues with electric vehicles. For now, gas powered vehicles have some significant advantages over electrics, at least for most people, other than the few that just jaunt around major cities once and a while. I'm not sure Rivian will see many of their trucks being used in the place of traditional trucks.

When charging up reaches a point that it only takes the same time that it does to fuel up a gas powered vehicle and technology reaches a solution for the running out of 'gas' issue, EV's will easily overtake ICV's.

The only other issue I can see is being able to 'make your vehicle your own'. So far, most of the EV's are like Apple products. Replacing the head unit, lowering, lifting, and other mod's are difficult, if not impossible. Hopefully that will change as well.

Personally, I'll stick with a Tundra for the foreseeable future.

 

Yeah, especially for people that dont live in places where they can charge over night or an otherwise extended time due to location or other factors but I dont think they are the core market at the moment anyway. As far as being able to make the car yours, that will come when the market is there for it. There should be no reason why it would be impossible to lower or lift an electric vehicle. As far as changing the head unit, not sure if that is really relevant these days anyway. Wheels, tires, body modifications (giggity) are all still very much in the realm of possibilities now.

 

If they made a truck that looked better than all now, was more reliable, more cost effective for consumer, more capable on and off-road, and had some serious comfort inside; I would be all about buying one. Sadly doubt that’ll be the case, we at least haven’t seen anything of the sort yet and honestly our trucks should be able to get well over 30mpg however that’s just not good for the automotive and gas industry. Take the VW Rabbit for instance, got 40 mpg if not better in the 80’s and cars now usually don’t break 30mpg. Sad is all.

 

Yup, you said that right.

 

My tire bill with my old Lexus was $500 every 8K to 10K miles.
I’m guessing I would far exceed that if you can turn all the nannies off on this truck lol.

 

It is.

The factory unit in the Tundra sucks.

My wife drives a Acura MDX and, although the infotainment head unit sounds great, it is fully integrated into the vehicle. There is no aftermarket replacement when it fails and needs repair. It is also somewhat slow and many times doesn't connect properly. There have been no updates to her system (other than map updates at $100/pop when they are on sale).

Ten years down the road or longer, and good luck getting it to connect to the current phones/devices. Most of the manufacturers don't update their firmware for much longer than a year unless it's a major security breech. I would like to be able to keep a vehicle that runs great and just replace the broken or defective head unit rather than be forced to pay the dealer to fix it or buy a new vehicle just for the infotainment system.

--Matt

 

Entune definitely does suck. That's for sure. It was one of the things I absolutely hated about my Tundra but I still wouldn't have paid for an after-market radio. 95% of them are trash anyway.

I honestly am not sure if you're trolling me right now or not. I mean, what? They don't do monthly updates or anything but unless Toyota had 5 security breaches that I didn't know about my Entune system was updated multiple times for both my Tundra and Tacoma. Also, why do you think you wouldn't be able to connect a new phone in 10 years to a car of today? Do you think bluetooth is just going to go away? I mean, USB has been around for 24 years and the latest USB tech is STILL backwards compatible. There are adapters. Lol. Are you imagining some crazy tech that's just going to absolutely kill all connections with previous tech devices?


Also, while you might not be able to just walk to car toys to get a replacement radio for your MDX, I am sure there are other options that you can install yourself (even if you do have to pick up the part from the dealer). The integration of infotainment systems into the core design of the car's interior has been going on for well over a decade (in today's fashion). Especially as these systems get more and more complex. I will say this. If you do not like this trend then dont every sell your current Tundra because the way that truck is built is dead (or about to be dying)

 

I wasn't referring to the Tundra. Our MDX has never been updated since we purchased it new. Not all tech is backwards compatible especially when it comes to operating systems and firmware. The cabling and Bluetooth might be compatible for a while but that might even change. I don't hold my breath.

Why would I be trolling you? The website tells me there's a response, I just read it and respond?

As for the MDX, nope, no other options and Acura isn't the only manufacturer going this route. Like I said, the manufacturers are turning our second most expensive investment into appliances like our cell phones. Just toss them in the trash every five to ten years and buy a new one. I guess my wife and I are among the few left that buy vehicles, pay them off, and drive them until the wheels fall off. Our last vehicles we kept to 15 and 17 years. The only reason we got rid of them was serious mechanical issues that were mounting up. I'm hoping to get well over 250k out of the MDX and even longer out of the Tundra. I'll just have to deal with the garbage they are turning out when we purchase our next vehicles. My wife is already complaining that she doesn't want any vehicle that has that auto emergency braking or any autonomous driving tech. Like that's going to be even a remote possibility when we go shopping fifteen years from now.

--Matt

 

Lol, I was just messing with ya my man. No ill-meaning.

I hear ya, I would like to keep my vehicle for as long as possible too. I have no doubt that your Acura and Tundra will last a long time. If it doesnt, it will definitely be a fluke. I am just saying have a little faith and not to worry too much about it. It will work out no biggie.

 

https://insideevs.com/video-rivian-truck-suv-snow-mountains/amp/

 

I really like this pick up. I'll probably never be able to afford one but they sure are nice.

 

There is no way in hell I would buy this truck even if I had the money. And what are they going to do about the good old sound of a V8 as you step on the gas is it going to have a loudspeaker outside so you and everyone can hear motor sound threw it .sorry I'm old school to me this thing is a joke

 

Silence is good for me. My buddy and I argue about this all the time now, especially with the electric dirt bikes coming out.

 

Are you kidding me I swear if the AMA Supercross ever comes out with this crap I'm never attending one of those races again in my life I can't even believe this is going to be a thing I have seen kids have electric dirt bikes when they first start out that make sense but like a 450R no way

 

I agree I definitely wouldn't be going to the races but I havent been in a few years anyway. Ill be honest I was totally against electric cars until this pick up, for some reason its attractive to me. And for dirt bikes I will always a a gas motor but I would consider adding an electric if they made something that was close to a real motocross bike. It would be perfect for where I live since it is illegal to ride everywhere , the electric bike would let me fly under the radar.

 

Phallic contest Bezos vs Musk, gonna get interesting with $$$ behind them
https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a26357793/amazon-rivian-electric-pickup-truck/

I don't like the front at all but apparently the light bar across the front are described as DRL stadium lights. Inside the stadium lights are the steerable low and high beam headlights. The light bar also serves as a charging indicator so that the owner can see the charge level at a glance.

 

Electric vehicles have been around longer than gas powered autos but there has always been one massive problem that knee-caps electric vehicles: battery chemistry. There is no battery chemistry/technology that comes close to the energy density of gasoline or diesel. There is no battery that can be recharged in less than five minutes. Consistent use of the Tesla "Superchargers" would be extremely hard on the battery if used frequently. Battery capacity in cold environments quickly drops (like 50% at 0 C). If you actually used a truck to tow heavy loads consistently the batteries would not make it past several hundred discharge cycles before requiring replacement.

Anyone who owns a Tesla almost certainly owns more than a Tesla and a large proportion of them probably live in warm climates and don't subject their vehicles to repeated deep discharge and quick recharge cycles. The "extended range" Tesla battery adds $8000 on an already expensive vehicle. I could buy a lot of gas for the price of a giant $25,000 battery. The supposed cost of a Tesla also factors in "gas savings" and "incentives" so you aren't being shown the actual price of purchasing the vehicle.

Energy density for selected sources



I'll take the Toyota Mirai fuel-cell vehicle over a purely battery powered vehicle any day.