I have a '22 R1T "Large" Pack. 20" AT Tires, so ~286mi of range. 47k miles. LOTS of road trips. You are so spot on, before EVs, I never drove for 4+ hrs at a time, I always stopped to pee, grab snacks, stretch our legs. A Tesla Supercharger compatible EV, with 250 miles can easily road trip anywhere nowadays. I could easily get 2.5-3hrs between charging stops, and that was perfect for me. I typically drive 75-85mph out here in California.
We've taken our Model Y on a few Texas road trips and never had a problem. Honestly by the time we're done using the restroom, finding something we want to eat, and then eating it, the car is practically charged. It's forced us to take slightly longer breaks which means we arrive at our destination maybe 30-60m later than we would have, but in much better moods because we were able to get out and stretch, walk around a bit.
Plus we almost always save money charging vs paying for gas. At home it costs us ~$5 to fully charge our EVs. That's from 0-80%. On the road we may pay upwards of $15 for 20-90%. It's MUCH cheaper.
I just got a standard range R1S and am also planning a Big Bend trip, this content couldn't have come at a better time, thank you! What was the name of the place you stayed at?
Stardust BigBend! Found them on Airbnb by filtering for EV chargers in Terlingua, booked on their website cause it was cheaper. It's a bit pricey, but very nice cabins with tons of amenities considering it's in the middle of nowhere. Charged us an additional $30 a night for access to the charger.
I enjoy camping at National parks so I love the shoutout for the rv site rental. I was able to charge from 10% to 96% overnight for my model 3 standard range, for roughly $30 for the site fee (a standard camp site was ~$15)
@@christians6974 I was considering that option with my Model X but it's a suicide trip if you dont have a place to plug in once you get inside Big Bend. What RV site did you plug into? I see several and $30 is reasonable for a recharge.
I've been before in our GX470 and did the Black Gap road loop. Big Bend is definitely a very remote place. I can see why it is the least visited park. Would be great to attempt that in my R1T some day. I know some members of the Lone Star Rivian Club are going soon but I won't be able to make it. Thanks for sharing the trip with us!
Loved the video! Made me miss road tripping across Texas. You should check out the McDonald Observatory just outside of Fort Davis next time, great for night time star gazing. I can’t imagine driving across Texas in an EV. I had a standard range Nissan Leaf (2018) for a few years in Washington State and the road trips down to Portland were anxiety inducing enough. Hope the charging network has become more reliable in the last few years. Got burned by so many chargers.
Man, that's only a 45min detour from Ft Stockton. Will have to check it out next time! The charging network has gotten so much better! Just looking on plugshare, there seems to be a ton of options between Seattle and Portland now, so maybe your trip would be a lot easier now.
@JimmyTriesWorld thanks for taking the time to share. Can I ask you to try a mile to Kw test. Top up to 80%, drive as you do for a day or 2 until below 25%. Top back up and see how many miles you went and how many Kw added to get back to 80%. That will give me a good idea of the R1S efficiency. I stay in West Houston and my Tesla X gets a steady 2.6 miles per Kw
Awesome video, I actually purchased my ford lightning in McAllen Texas and driving all the way back to San Antonio was stressful. Being inexperienced and having literally no compatible chargers between the two cities I just barely made it home. Big Bend is a road trip I’ve been wanting to take.
Once you get that Tesla Adapter then road-trips become soooo nice, your options open up so much. I'm sure a Lightning could do it well! We had a Mach-e going the same path all the way up to Ft. Stockton.
What's crazy is that each time you use a supercharger you are actually decreasing you batteries' lifetime. They don't mention this for obvious reasons, but the proper way to charge is the overnight-style.
Speed affects gas efficiency too, not even to a “lesser degree” as mentioned in the video It’s a physics problem, not an EV problem. Your vehicle has to work harder with the increased air resistance, which increases exponentially and not linearly with speed. Every engine has an optimal RPM range for efficiency, and outside factors like wind, elevation changes, etc all play into this Rivians (like most fridge shaped vehicles) are going to maybe see more pronounced decreases in range with speed since they’re much less efficient with air than the usual oval shape a lot of modern vehicles like to go with But great video! I like how realistic it is, and I think your family’s approach to road trips is pretty accurate for a lot of people, and it’s helpful for those who are on the fence to see real numbers
This is good to know. I’m buying a Taycan and I was just going to use it around metro Dallas. It’s nice to know that I can take it down to the other cities in Texas. We do have other ICE cars though.
Made the drive out to Big Bend a few times and it takes me about 10 hrs from Katy in my gas vehicle. Totally underrated park. I was wondering about how long an EV would do it in and your video popped up. Great info!
Glad you found it useful! Katy is definitely a cheat code to driving out of Houston. At times, I'm jealous of Katy folks since you guys shave like an hour off any trip to Austin/Big Bend or anywhere on the southern part of the western US. Then whenever I'm driving on I-10 for whatever reason during rush hour I want to jump out of the car and that jealousy disappears. Still plenty jealous though :).
Crazy that this was randomly recommended to me. My wife and I went to college at Sul Ross State University (in Alpine) and we were thinking about making a road trip to show the kids that area this spring. We just bought a Model Y long range and was so happy there were superchargers in Alpine now. Also wanted to ask if you found out any information about the supercharger site going in at Terlingua? Good to know there are destination chargers though! We also grew up in the Katy area and currently live in Houston (Crosby area) so we are use to that long trip about 10 times a year from the college days...lol
There's a Tesla Motors Club forum thread on the Terlingua site! That's the best I found on latest news of it. Sadly, it doesn't look like it's had much movement. It was fun doing this trip once, but ya'll must LOVE it to do it 10x a year lol.
@JimmyTriesWorld thanks for the info! We don't make that trip anymore, but while we were in college, we made that trip about 10x a year. It was rough 🤣
Im from rural Wisconsin and I love visiting Houston. Soo much great food from different cultures , fun city and a lot of place to enjoy cocktail. Only thing I hate is traffic lol
I am that person who dehydrates ahead of a cross country drive to match my bladder to the gas tank (Prius and Siena hybrid so 500 plus miles between stops) and usually take less than 15 minutes per stop. That being said, I just traded my 2024 Prius in on a model 3 red long range 2 weeks ago and 😂I’ll be doing my first EV road trip in it next month from eastern Ohio to Phoenix and back. Aka EVs are now attracting sadistic road trippers like me.
Man, it's been awhile since I've seen the Bastrop Buccee's. Also, the issues that come with shorter range EV's are actually problematic for me. I live in Dallas-Ft. Wort and semi regularly need to make day trips to Austin and back, and 360 miles total is doable along I-35 with only 200 miles of range, but having something like the 400+ mile Lucid Air Pure(or at least the much higher charging speed than my wife's current 1st gen Tesla Model S) would allow me to make the trip without having to stop in Temple to charge at THAT Buccees and make it a lot easier to deal with. ALSO nice shots of the Hill Country.
I have driven from Austin to Big Bend 4 times so far. This trip is probably is the only one that's not feasible for me in an electric car. I drive there 7 hours straight, stopping only for gas and restroom. Even that would have been doable if terlingua had a supercharger. As it is now you have to find an accommodation suited for an EV.
Idk how you manage 7hrs straight, that's crazy. Terlingua 100% needs a SC. While planning this trip, I was shocked that it had absolutely nothing. Tesla has permits to build a station down there, but it's gotten very little movement. Hoping that fixes it and makes the trip basically stress-free.
EVs shine in the city where the range doesn't matter and you can charge at home or work. If you are driving any distances, or live outside a city, it doesnt really make sense to buy a more expensive car, with a short relative lifespan, that is objectively a worse experience in every way.
Don't ever drive 10.5 hours "non-stop". That's unhealthy and dangerous. Take breaks. Stop every couple of hours to stretch the legs. Stop for "fluid exchange." But stop more than every 10 hours. The only time the EV takes longer is on trips longer than ~200 miles (~3-4hrs), no matter the range of the EV (for the "normal" EVs out now, not the "commuter cars" that have
You in a gas car have the choice to do that. In a EV you’re required to do that. I typically eat when driving. I do like you talk to that at the end of the video
On a road trip? Refueling, bathroom break, picking up a snack, heading to the register, putting back the snack, picking up a different snack. They all take time!
"Short Range EV" I don't know if I would call 250+ miles short range. Most affordable and older EV's like the Chevy Bolt, Nissan Leaf, Fiat 500e, Kia Kona EV and more have just barely 250 miles if not substantually less. Bit of a misleading title IMO. The Shortest Range Rivian yes but by no means a "Short Range" EV
That's a really valid point. My comparison point has been some mainstream EVs like a Mach E, Ioniq 5, older "standard range Model 3/Y" etc. Which of course are nowhere close to those you listed. Title is getting updated "short"-ly.
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I have a '22 R1T "Large" Pack. 20" AT Tires, so ~286mi of range. 47k miles. LOTS of road trips. You are so spot on, before EVs, I never drove for 4+ hrs at a time, I always stopped to pee, grab snacks, stretch our legs. A Tesla Supercharger compatible EV, with 250 miles can easily road trip anywhere nowadays. I could easily get 2.5-3hrs between charging stops, and that was perfect for me. I typically drive 75-85mph out here in California.
That's a nice spec R1T. Glad to hear someone had similar experiences! Idk how other people stand driving >3hr without a stop.
I think the big difference is most people stop for 5-10 minutes, not 30.
Great video! Gas vs. EV pro/con comparisons super duper informative and helpful!
Thanks for an honest positive take on the EV. We have an EV with about 300 mile range, and you are spot on about planning stops.
We've taken our Model Y on a few Texas road trips and never had a problem. Honestly by the time we're done using the restroom, finding something we want to eat, and then eating it, the car is practically charged. It's forced us to take slightly longer breaks which means we arrive at our destination maybe 30-60m later than we would have, but in much better moods because we were able to get out and stretch, walk around a bit.
Plus we almost always save money charging vs paying for gas. At home it costs us ~$5 to fully charge our EVs. That's from 0-80%. On the road we may pay upwards of $15 for 20-90%. It's MUCH cheaper.
Couldn't agree more on the mood bit. Feels so nice with all the frequent breaks!
I just got a standard range R1S and am also planning a Big Bend trip, this content couldn't have come at a better time, thank you! What was the name of the place you stayed at?
Stardust BigBend! Found them on Airbnb by filtering for EV chargers in Terlingua, booked on their website cause it was cheaper. It's a bit pricey, but very nice cabins with tons of amenities considering it's in the middle of nowhere. Charged us an additional $30 a night for access to the charger.
I enjoy camping at National parks so I love the shoutout for the rv site rental. I was able to charge from 10% to 96% overnight for my model 3 standard range, for roughly $30 for the site fee (a standard camp site was ~$15)
Am considering getting a used r1s to replace my minivan in a few years to road trip across the us and sleep with a mattress in the back
@@christians6974 I was considering that option with my Model X but it's a suicide trip if you dont have a place to plug in once you get inside Big Bend.
What RV site did you plug into? I see several and $30 is reasonable for a recharge.
I've been before in our GX470 and did the Black Gap road loop. Big Bend is definitely a very remote place. I can see why it is the least visited park. Would be great to attempt that in my R1T some day. I know some members of the Lone Star Rivian Club are going soon but I won't be able to make it. Thanks for sharing the trip with us!
Loved the video! Made me miss road tripping across Texas. You should check out the McDonald Observatory just outside of Fort Davis next time, great for night time star gazing. I can’t imagine driving across Texas in an EV. I had a standard range Nissan Leaf (2018) for a few years in Washington State and the road trips down to Portland were anxiety inducing enough. Hope the charging network has become more reliable in the last few years. Got burned by so many chargers.
Man, that's only a 45min detour from Ft Stockton. Will have to check it out next time! The charging network has gotten so much better! Just looking on plugshare, there seems to be a ton of options between Seattle and Portland now, so maybe your trip would be a lot easier now.
Didn't realize you were an H-town dude too. This is the exact stuff i always wanted to see from EV tests. Texas is built different 😆
Texas road trips are a completely different animal. Glad it was interesting!
@JimmyTriesWorld thanks for taking the time to share.
Can I ask you to try a mile to Kw test.
Top up to 80%, drive as you do for a day or 2 until below 25%.
Top back up and see how many miles you went and how many Kw added to get back to 80%.
That will give me a good idea of the R1S efficiency.
I stay in West Houston and my Tesla X gets a steady 2.6 miles per Kw
Awesome video, I actually purchased my ford lightning in McAllen Texas and driving all the way back to San Antonio was stressful. Being inexperienced and having literally no compatible chargers between the two cities I just barely made it home. Big Bend is a road trip I’ve been wanting to take.
Once you get that Tesla Adapter then road-trips become soooo nice, your options open up so much. I'm sure a Lightning could do it well! We had a Mach-e going the same path all the way up to Ft. Stockton.
What's crazy is that each time you use a supercharger you are actually decreasing you batteries' lifetime. They don't mention this for obvious reasons, but the proper way to charge is the overnight-style.
Speed affects gas efficiency too, not even to a “lesser degree” as mentioned in the video
It’s a physics problem, not an EV problem. Your vehicle has to work harder with the increased air resistance, which increases exponentially and not linearly with speed. Every engine has an optimal RPM range for efficiency, and outside factors like wind, elevation changes, etc all play into this
Rivians (like most fridge shaped vehicles) are going to maybe see more pronounced decreases in range with speed since they’re much less efficient with air than the usual oval shape a lot of modern vehicles like to go with
But great video! I like how realistic it is, and I think your family’s approach to road trips is pretty accurate for a lot of people, and it’s helpful for those who are on the fence to see real numbers
Great elaboration for that small bit. Also, glad you enjoyed it!
Man the Rivian R2 is gonna be a blast! Thanks for this video, it's very informative. 👍
This is good to know. I’m buying a Taycan and I was just going to use it around metro Dallas. It’s nice to know that I can take it down to the other cities in Texas. We do have other ICE cars though.
The crazy thing is that owning an EV will only get better.
Made the drive out to Big Bend a few times and it takes me about 10 hrs from Katy in my gas vehicle.
Totally underrated park.
I was wondering about how long an EV would do it in and your video popped up. Great info!
Glad you found it useful! Katy is definitely a cheat code to driving out of Houston.
At times, I'm jealous of Katy folks since you guys shave like an hour off any trip to Austin/Big Bend or anywhere on the southern part of the western US. Then whenever I'm driving on I-10 for whatever reason during rush hour I want to jump out of the car and that jealousy disappears. Still plenty jealous though :).
Thanks for the great video. I’ve been wanting to go to Big Bend in my Tesla Model Y, but it didn’t seem doable. Now I know it is.
Crazy that this was randomly recommended to me. My wife and I went to college at Sul Ross State University (in Alpine) and we were thinking about making a road trip to show the kids that area this spring. We just bought a Model Y long range and was so happy there were superchargers in Alpine now.
Also wanted to ask if you found out any information about the supercharger site going in at Terlingua? Good to know there are destination chargers though!
We also grew up in the Katy area and currently live in Houston (Crosby area) so we are use to that long trip about 10 times a year from the college days...lol
There's a Tesla Motors Club forum thread on the Terlingua site! That's the best I found on latest news of it. Sadly, it doesn't look like it's had much movement.
It was fun doing this trip once, but ya'll must LOVE it to do it 10x a year lol.
@JimmyTriesWorld thanks for the info! We don't make that trip anymore, but while we were in college, we made that trip about 10x a year. It was rough 🤣
Good stuff. A long EV trip is really a minor adjustment
I don’t blame you people need an excuse to leave Houston
Im from rural Wisconsin and I love visiting Houston. Soo much great food from different cultures , fun city and a lot of place to enjoy cocktail. Only thing I hate is traffic lol
I am that person who dehydrates ahead of a cross country drive to match my bladder to the gas tank (Prius and Siena hybrid so 500 plus miles between stops) and usually take less than 15 minutes per stop. That being said, I just traded my 2024 Prius in on a model 3 red long range 2 weeks ago and 😂I’ll be doing my first EV road trip in it next month from eastern Ohio to Phoenix and back. Aka EVs are now attracting sadistic road trippers like me.
Great video. Could you include how much you spent charging and estimate the gas cost
Man, it's been awhile since I've seen the Bastrop Buccee's. Also, the issues that come with shorter range EV's are actually problematic for me. I live in Dallas-Ft. Wort and semi regularly need to make day trips to Austin and back, and 360 miles total is doable along I-35 with only 200 miles of range, but having something like the 400+ mile Lucid Air Pure(or at least the much higher charging speed than my wife's current 1st gen Tesla Model S) would allow me to make the trip without having to stop in Temple to charge at THAT Buccees and make it a lot easier to deal with. ALSO nice shots of the Hill Country.
I have driven from Austin to Big Bend 4 times so far. This trip is probably is the only one that's not feasible for me in an electric car. I drive there 7 hours straight, stopping only for gas and restroom. Even that would have been doable if terlingua had a supercharger. As it is now you have to find an accommodation suited for an EV.
Idk how you manage 7hrs straight, that's crazy. Terlingua 100% needs a SC. While planning this trip, I was shocked that it had absolutely nothing. Tesla has permits to build a station down there, but it's gotten very little movement. Hoping that fixes it and makes the trip basically stress-free.
EVs shine in the city where the range doesn't matter and you can charge at home or work.
If you are driving any distances, or live outside a city, it doesnt really make sense to buy a more expensive car, with a short relative lifespan, that is objectively a worse experience in every way.
Still more range than the ID Buzz for about the same price
Love the vibe of the ID Buzz but that price...
Don't ever drive 10.5 hours "non-stop". That's unhealthy and dangerous. Take breaks. Stop every couple of hours to stretch the legs. Stop for "fluid exchange." But stop more than every 10 hours.
The only time the EV takes longer is on trips longer than ~200 miles (~3-4hrs), no matter the range of the EV (for the "normal" EVs out now, not the "commuter cars" that have
OK BOOMER.
@USNEM Definitely not a Boomer. My parents are Boomers. I've just done plenty of long drives in my life.
11:49 beautiful pics !!
You in a gas car have the choice to do that. In a EV you’re required to do that.
I typically eat when driving. I do like you talk to that at the end of the video
Calling 250 miles low range is ludicrous.
Who takes 15 minutes for a typical quick fuel up in a gas car.
On a road trip? Refueling, bathroom break, picking up a snack, heading to the register, putting back the snack, picking up a different snack. They all take time!
"Short Range EV" I don't know if I would call 250+ miles short range. Most affordable and older EV's like the Chevy Bolt, Nissan Leaf, Fiat 500e, Kia Kona EV and more have just barely 250 miles if not substantually less. Bit of a misleading title IMO. The Shortest Range Rivian yes but by no means a "Short Range" EV
That's a really valid point. My comparison point has been some mainstream EVs like a Mach E, Ioniq 5, older "standard range Model 3/Y" etc. Which of course are nowhere close to those you listed. Title is getting updated "short"-ly.
@@JimmyTriesWorld Really appreciate the response and I didn't mean to dog on the video, I did still really enjoy it! Keep on making great content man!
All good. I took no offense, I appreciate the feedback! Glad you enjoyed it :)
LOL the first gen EVs here in Europe had 70 miles or so. First Gen Zoe or the first VW Up. These are low range EVs.
Why?
EVing = lot's of eating
I mean. If we're comparing eating ratios between electric/gas probably more snacking with gas!
Your commercial is way too long. Goodby
Are all rivians ugly? Every one I have seen look like shyt!
I hated the headlights at first, but they've grown on me. 😅