Anyone know when these will hit the market? I'd love an electric SUV. As much as I would PREFER a self driving SUV (level 4+), I don't see that being truly amenable in the next 5 years.
The models Rivian has announced are supposed to go into production next year (2020). The more investment they get the more likely I think it is that they hit that goal, but they're already taking preorders and production will probably be limited at first so there might be a wait.
They're supposed to go into production end of next year. Given that they haven't even built a working one, I'd say that's optimistic, but I do hope they succeed! We will see how much the extra investment they have is going to speed up the process.
Just this week at the LA Auto show Rivian's head designer confirmed the pickup on display is the only one they have ever built, and it was built by hand.
The interview begins at yellow marker, ~4:00. Maybe it's just me, and I guess it's really just a personal 'pet peeve', but is it off-putting to anyone else how he constantly saying "gives ME ...", "I have four motors", "so I can...", etc...
Perhaps I've been driving people crazy all these years, but "we" usually sounds so much better (even if it is just you) and a lot less ... lousy and self-centered. Maybe he really is the guy -- it just rubs me a little wrong, especially when I suspect it really is we -- as in, the team.
I just mean that I haven't seen any footage of a Rivian actually being used or doing what they say.
There are marketing videos but for all I know that's an F-150 with a new skin.
You would assume if they really had something with 410 mile range they would have a journalist come and do some long drive, I.E. Tesla going from LA->SF two days ago.
Or showing off it's acceleration. I really don't think they have even a single working truck that does what they say it does yet. Not to say they're a fraud, just that they're not there yet.
As I've understood it, and this might be what you mean, it's just the F150 bodies that were put on top of the Rivian Skateboard. And that's what they've been testing for years.
Tesla might beat them to production, Rivian is already backlogged to 2022 with preorders and they have yet to manufacture a vehicle that is not a prototype.
It’s big - but not Escalade-big. It’s more accurately described as a large crossover (CUX? XUV?) than a true SUV. Confusingly Tesla refers to the smaller Model Y as a Crossover even though it’s closer to an MPV (Ford C-Max) than a Crossover like a Honda Pilot. I think they’re justifying it by the fact you can get it in a 7-seat config.
There are so many predictions on how it will look but yes they are making pickup truck and possibly unveiling the prototype later this year. If found some info here https://insideevs.com/tag/tesla-pickup-truck/
I'm decently sure that voiding the warranty for off-road usage would violate US law? I really don't think there's a whole lot you can do to void a vehicle's warranty in the US -- outside of intentional / malicious / collision damage.
Any damage caused by off-road usage may sometimes fall under collision damage, but generally I don't think that usage which is legal and non-negligent would void a warranty in the US. I'm not even sure if negligent usage would invalidate a warranty claim, though likely depends on the circumstances.
Note that IANAL -- just a consumer who often sees very clearly wrong "voids your warranty" statements far too often. I don't claim to know the precise hypotheticals here either, but I am confident that it's truly difficult to void your entire warranty (at least in the US).
Sure, pulling your touchscreen out and damaging it in the process = no warranty for the touchscreen. But if an axle subsequently snaps, the manufacturer cannot legally (in the US) deny your warranty claim based on other unrelated vehicle modifications.
There's no law that would prevent manufacturers from saying that a product warranty is voided if it is used for purposes other than its clearly intended use. It would be one thing for a car maker to say that the warranty for a normal car is voided by normal use (i.e., driving on a road), but off-road driving is a very different beast from regular, on-road driving. Off-road vehicles like Jeeps and Suburus are made with special suspensions and drive trains for a reason...
>There's no law that would prevent manufacturers from saying that a product warranty is voided if it is used for purposes other than its clearly intended use.
The onus is on the manufacturer to prove the consumer’s actions caused the product to fail. And off-road use (not rock climbing but driving on dirt roads) is normal use of any vehicle.
The Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act doesn't do what you think it does...In fact, it explicitly provides that warranties are not required and that the scope can be limited by the warranty-provider, so long as the limitations are fair.
See https://www.edmunds.com/auto-warranty/what-voids-your-vehicl.... Car industry experts agree that off-roading will generally void the warranty of any car not sold as an off-road model, or with off-road capabilities that are advertised as such (like 4WD). This is because, as I previously stated, the demands placed by off-road use are very different from the demands of normal road use.
Also see the insurance/warranty limitations for any vehicle rented on the Big Island of Hawaii, which all deny coverage related to the off-road use of any vehicle that doesn't have 4WD.
