Photo: Rivian | Edited
Last year Rivian owners discovered that their truck had an unusual problem, draining the high-voltage battery while sitting idle in the garage. After several updates claiming to improve the situation, owners still report a massive battery drain in an inactive state. One Rivian enthusiast calculated that the entire Rivian fleet wastes more than 100,000 kWh per day while doing absolutely nothing.
Last year, a YouTuber's experiment showed what many Rivian owners noticed: their EVs were draining the high-voltage batteries even when sitting idle in a garage. The problem was so widespread that people called it the "vampire drain" or "phantom drain." Despite many promises, Rivian still hasn't figured out what's causing it, although it offered several updates claiming to improve the situation. More Rivian owners complained about the vampire drain recently, reflecting a marked increase in deliveries.
Electric vehicles should not drain their batteries while being parked. It's true that using their cameras as a surveillance system or accessing various functions remotely would wake up the car and consume energy. Also, when parked for a long time, the high-voltage battery will charge the low-voltage battery, which is responsible for powering the computers and systems. The energy consumption of an EV is never zero while parked, but Rivian owners report significant overnight losses.
One Rivian R1S owner who also owns a Kia EV6 had the chance to compare the energy drain on both cars and shared the results on Reddit. They left the cars parked in the garage (temperature between 60-75 F/16-24 C) for two weeks while going to South Korea. Mobile apps were turned off on both EVs and were not activated during the entire trip. In the case of the R1S, the owner also turned off Gear Guard and proximity locking. Shipping mode was not activated, as they didn't consider it necessary.
The Rivian R1S started with a 64% battery, and it lost just 20% during the entire period, with 44% of the battery remaining at the end of the vacation. This could be considered on the high side even for a Rivian, with most owners reporting a 1% per day drain. Still, it's huge compared to the Kia EV6, which started at 70% SoC and only lost one percent for the entire two-week period. Rough math shows that the Kia used 800 Wh of electricity, while the R1S needed 27 kWh for the same job of doing nothing for two weeks.
Upon investigating, the owner discovered that their R1S constantly uploaded data to the Rivian cloud for the entire period. A total of 8 GB was uploaded, although this should not cause such high energy consumption. Rivian's chief of software, Wassym Bensaid, intervened and promised to look into the situation, admitting this was not normal. Many owners report a phantom drain, even if less severe. Still, it appears that the 2023.18.00 update improved things significantly.
A data-obsessed Rivian fan eagerly waiting for their R1T Dual-Motor to ship also pointed out that consuming that much is abnormal. They currently drive a Kia Niro EV, which only consumes about 0.5% per week when unused. Based on this number, they calculated how much energy the entire Rivian fleet wastes every day. Considering the EV startup sold about 50,000 vehicles since it started production, this equals 93,500 kWh per day in wasted energy.
Adding charging losses pushes the figure above 100,000 kWh per day, which is insane. This is enough to power 3,500 homes while emitting 85,000 lbs of CO2 per day, as much as 1,600 ICE Ford F-150 pickups driving the average daily mileage. What do you think about this issue? Is it enough to deter you from buying a Rivian, or is it less important? Hit us with a comment below.
Electric vehicles should not drain their batteries while being parked. It's true that using their cameras as a surveillance system or accessing various functions remotely would wake up the car and consume energy. Also, when parked for a long time, the high-voltage battery will charge the low-voltage battery, which is responsible for powering the computers and systems. The energy consumption of an EV is never zero while parked, but Rivian owners report significant overnight losses.
One Rivian R1S owner who also owns a Kia EV6 had the chance to compare the energy drain on both cars and shared the results on Reddit. They left the cars parked in the garage (temperature between 60-75 F/16-24 C) for two weeks while going to South Korea. Mobile apps were turned off on both EVs and were not activated during the entire trip. In the case of the R1S, the owner also turned off Gear Guard and proximity locking. Shipping mode was not activated, as they didn't consider it necessary.
The Rivian R1S started with a 64% battery, and it lost just 20% during the entire period, with 44% of the battery remaining at the end of the vacation. This could be considered on the high side even for a Rivian, with most owners reporting a 1% per day drain. Still, it's huge compared to the Kia EV6, which started at 70% SoC and only lost one percent for the entire two-week period. Rough math shows that the Kia used 800 Wh of electricity, while the R1S needed 27 kWh for the same job of doing nothing for two weeks.
Upon investigating, the owner discovered that their R1S constantly uploaded data to the Rivian cloud for the entire period. A total of 8 GB was uploaded, although this should not cause such high energy consumption. Rivian's chief of software, Wassym Bensaid, intervened and promised to look into the situation, admitting this was not normal. Many owners report a phantom drain, even if less severe. Still, it appears that the 2023.18.00 update improved things significantly.
A data-obsessed Rivian fan eagerly waiting for their R1T Dual-Motor to ship also pointed out that consuming that much is abnormal. They currently drive a Kia Niro EV, which only consumes about 0.5% per week when unused. Based on this number, they calculated how much energy the entire Rivian fleet wastes every day. Considering the EV startup sold about 50,000 vehicles since it started production, this equals 93,500 kWh per day in wasted energy.
Adding charging losses pushes the figure above 100,000 kWh per day, which is insane. This is enough to power 3,500 homes while emitting 85,000 lbs of CO2 per day, as much as 1,600 ICE Ford F-150 pickups driving the average daily mileage. What do you think about this issue? Is it enough to deter you from buying a Rivian, or is it less important? Hit us with a comment below.
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