Teardown expert Sandy Munro gets a first taste of the dual-motor Rivian R1T. He gets behind the wheel of a Performance version with Brian Gase, Rivian's Chief Engineer for Special Projects. The expert gives us a few hints of what's to come on the 2024 model-year pickup truck.
The newest entry-level Rivian R1T has two in-house developed motors instead of the four Bosch units. Moving onto a simpler powertrain allowed the Irvine-based startup to lower production costs by around 25% and offer customers a versatile all-electric pickup truck that has a starting price of $73,000 when the 105-kWh standard battery is equipped or $79,000 when the 135-kWh energy storage unit is chosen.
Losing two motors, however, introduced a power penalty. Now, the dual-motor truck puts out 533 hp – 10 hp more than a V8-powered BMW X5 M60i. But the new Enduro units can deploy more punch to each axle. Rivian, however, put 132 hp and 219 lb-ft of torque behind a $5,000 paywall and called this version of the R1T the "Performance Dual-Motor AWD."
Sandy Munro drives the 665-hp Rivian R1T riding on 22-inch wheels, and his first impressions are positive. He says the rides feel comfortable, underlines that the truck accelerates nicely with "plenty of pep," and praises the well-defined driving modes. That's despite the dual-motor R1T having just four and the Performance dual-motor having five. The quad-motor units have ten driving modes.
Another advantage of dropping the four Bosch motors for the Enduro units is that the pickup truck is now 122 lb lighter when comparing the vehicles with the 135-kWh battery. Rivian Chief Engineer Brian Gase confirmed it, but Munro insisted on finding out if something was redesigned for simplicity and lightweight. The teardown expert wanted to learn what was new about the chassis or the body.
Gase said there are "additional improvements coming" in this department, but the novelties are reserved for the 2024 model-year R1T. However, he specifically noted that the dual-motor EV would not benefit from further weight reduction.
Photo: Rivian
The quad-motor R1T might be put through a diet since Gase hinted that the changes would be weight-related. In a dialogue with Munro, he confirmed that the upcoming model-year pickup truck would debut enhancements "more focused on some of that technology." He referred to Munro's question about further lightening the dual-motor R1T through chassis or bodywork modifications.
Munro did not try to get more out of the engineer, but he did continue to praise the truck for being very well-suited for city driving. The man even said the dual-motor pickup truck was nicer than his quad-motor R1T. Gase told him the vehicle was a much more recently built unit, suggesting that fine-tuning worked.
Sandy Munro went as far as to say that he didn't notice a fundamental difference between the Enduro motors and the Bosch drive unit. However, the engineer pointed out that when it comes to adventuring after the pavement ends, the quad-motor is far superior thanks to things like torque vectoring, which is the ability to control the power each wheel receives.
Munro doubled down and said that no other automaker has something like the R1T regarding off-road capability. "The feeling of security and power is unsurpassed," underlined the teardown veteran.
He also felt compelled to add that he's not on Rivian's payroll or sponsored by the EV maker.
Finally, Rivian surely has a couple of more tricks up its sleeve, but we should be patient and tread carefully.
Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one. Full profile
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