Is California ready to be the first to go full EV, or is it a disaster waiting to happen? I'm driving the formidable Rivian R1T, and 1,000 miles on we've got a lot to discuss from my time with it so far. Let me take you on a journey to discover the painful experience currently offered in LA.

Firstly, the R1T features the quad motor setup and a 135kWh battery; plenty for almost 300 miles range and a car loaded with great useful features; from the storage compartment in the gear tunnel, to the air line in the bed, and even a detachable speaker stowed inside the cabin. With a minimalistic approach inside, it's elegant, loaded with technology, and although there's a bit of a learning curve, it's very functional. Some work is needed with the navigation system, and ideally use of Apple CarPlay and Android Auto would be nice, but you'll get there eventually.

However, let's talk EV and California's charging infrastructure.

At home, I am currently daily driving an electric Abarth 500e, and have had extensive use from my Porsche Taycan Turbo S, done many miles with a Mini Cooper E and a CUPRA Born, and of course plenty of test drives and reviews of different electric cars; including all 4 models of the Tesla range in various motor/battery configurations. Safe to say, I am not opposed to electric cars for many circumstances and have long argued that you can only live with an EV if you have access to charging at home, and have no requirements to depend upon long distance journeys.

However, that doesn't always work for everyone. Take into consideration those who are perhaps older or not technically minded, people who are renting cars during their travels, and people who have just never tried to use one before. These are some of the situations where it starts to unravel very fast, unless of course the infrastructure is fabulous and very much set up to really make it easy.

This is where Tesla step in; the Supercharger network is indisputably better than the offerings for everyone else. Of course there will be comments on this video of "should have driven a Tesla" but I can equally state from experience that I've seen Supercharger stations out of action, with long queues, and you'd currently then be forced into the Tesla ecosystem which is quite the monopoly and doesn't support growth for the industry in general. Yes, in 2024 the Supercharger network is going to open to other brands and some will be moving to the NACS connection type rather than CCS or CHAdeMO, but with the growing number of EVs on the roads, that's also not necessarily a perfect solution.

Another angle to take, is to only use known charging stations that work like Electrify America, but even that isn't fully dependable, and nor are there enough charging stations to find one anywhere near where you want to be travelling. Rivian are also expanding their own charging network but with next to none around, it's again a lost cause to try and depend upon that.

We're lead to believe that California is one of the first places to be ready to ban combustion engines, but is it even close?

Thank you to Rivian for the loan of the R1T during this period, it's been a great opportunity to discover the car and the approach the company have taken to their offering. Ultimately though, as great as the car can be, there's a lot outside of Rivian's control that needs to be worked on before this is a viable solution.

Thanks for watching, Tim

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
01:15 Rivian R1T Walkaround
04:00 Interior Features
06:04 My First Drive
09:03 EV Charging Problems
12:39 Tesla Infrastructure
17:36 Charging the Rivian
24:45 Rivian Features
28:24 Final Thoughts
31:24 Wrap Up

#Rivian #California #Charging

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