Rivian Truck

https://products.rivian.com/

Was reading a few articles and saw a few videos. Looks pretty interesting and promising if the tow specs are accurate!

 

"Electrifying performance with zero emissions"

As someone said years ago--these things merely move the source of the emissions to somewhere else. 400+ miles? Probably not while towing. It will be a long time before electric vehicles, especially trucks, are practical IMO.

 

^^ Not entirely true....

https://cleantechnica.com/2018/02/19/electric-car-well-to-wheel-emissions-myth/

Myth: electric car well-to-wheel emissions are larger than gas car well-to-wheel emissions.

Short answer: Electric car well-to-wheel emissions are far, far less than gasmobile well-to-wheel emissions.

 

I like them. Am amazed at the number of peeps that have put deposits down on a vehicle that is not even in production.

I wish I had that kind of money to just let sit.

 

I can get behind an electric truck, it's just a bit expensive, but not unlike regular trucks lately. Reasonable range, instant torque, great towing capability, quick acceleration, individual wheel control, and 3ft water fording capability. Rivian has been around since 2009 and has been working on design and acquiring resources before bringing their vehicle to market. Not exactly the typical startup company.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivian

 

I am psyched for these to come out. Can’t wait to have an electric truck. Now that level 4 charging is becoming more commonplace, there are very few downsides.

 

Agreed. There are a couple other companies trying to do something similar, but in my opinion Rivian is the only one that looks like they can feasibly bring something to market in the next few years. There is another company called Atlis that promises the moon, but I don’t think they even have a working prototype at this time.

 

The beginning of the linked article says. Auto manufactures, and fossil fuel companies are against electric vehicles.

Those same auto manufactures will be the ones selling electric vehicles, and those same fossil fuel companies or(energy conglomerates) will be the ones selling the electricity.

 

long time as in 5 years???

 

Yeah I know, I don't like the conspiracy theory/smartass tone of the article, and agree with you that the companies they seem to be railing against are the ones who will likely capitalize the most on electric vehicles. But they are citing emissions information from a legit source and that's what I was more interested in.

 

'Murica... Everyone is close minded to anything that goes against your current views until you're forced to change...then you whine and sue and try to bring down the other person to no end. Tesla would be so much further along If they didn't have almost everyone beating them down from the sidelines. If only people could pull their heads out of their asses and work together.

Once upon a time this country knew what innovation and moving forward was.

From oil to food to healthcare, it's all going to shit exponentially quick. Big money mongers at the top who have most people brainwashed and literally own the govt.

 

I disagree. Most (American) auto manufacturers are so behind on the technology they will be lucky to survive. Their only chance is buying out the smaller companies before they become rivals. Notice how GM was trying to invest in Rivian.

As far as energy companies go, same story. Shell is the only company seriously investing in renewables, and even that may not save them. Energy companies are pushing against renewables because it is a distributed market. You can’t make Billions in distributed markets. That is why they love oil, it is concentrated by definition, and not accessible without huge capital investments. Throwing solar on your roof takes tens of thousands and de-couples you from multiple utilities that were previously absolutely necessary. Not good news for them.

These are disruptive technologies, and the companies they are disrupting will not make it easy.

 

ah the ol classic.... you didn't like the idea, until you liked the idea, and now it became your idea...???

it never gets old

 

There is apparently some controversy on the subject. Some of these articles imply that is not true, others say it depends on where the electricity is generated:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/electric-cars-are-not-necessarily-clean/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/electric-cars-are-not-necessarily-clean/

https://www.citylab.com/environment...ly-cause-more-pollution-than-gas-cars/397136/

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...ollution-says-top-uk-adviser-prof-frank-kelly

https://www.vancouverobserver.com/b...ess-climate-pollution-gasoline-cars-take-look

 

Nice to have some different points of view, though I would say several of those articles are a bit misleading.

The Citylab article is essentially comparing the EV’s and ICE’s in terms of short term human health. A worthwhile comparison, but not the entire story.

The Guardian article has several stats that don’t actually lead towards any conclusion, and they simply state that EV’s emit brake and tire dust, which is obviously true for ICE vehicles as well.

The Scientific American and Vancouver Observer articles have more relevant data, and essentially come to the conclusion that it depends where you live whether EV vs ICE is cleaner. One thing these articles do not take into consideration is that electrical grids worldwide are quickly switching to renewables. In fact it is now becoming cheaper to install solar and wind generation than it is to continue running an existing coal plant. Writing from phone, so sources to come.

Edited for typos.

Source for renewable vs coal
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fo...gy-is-cheaper-than-running-existing-coal/amp/

 

Well that didn’t take long. Ford to invest $500M in Rivian. Smart move in my opinion.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/business/ford-rivian-investment.amp.html

 

And Amazon and others putting in $700 million. Smart for Ford to get in with the company. Have access to the tech.

 

I agree. They are probably eyeing the platform for the F-series. I am excited to see these types of vehicles hit the market.

 

For sure, if they can price them similar to a gas vehicle then people will be interested.

 

In our province most of our electricity is from hydro/dams. we have excess that we sell south of the border. We did have a disagreement with California back in 2013, apparently we were price gouging during a power shortage.
What’s California going to do if everyone goes electric vehicles when they already have electric power shortages now ?