RIVIAN CHARGING NETWORK BEING SET UP AROUND TRAILHEADS, NATURAL ATTRACTIONS

Rivian has a central mindset for the R1T, R1S and their company as a whole: “Electric Adventure Vehicles.” The vehicles are built to go off-road and allow customers to see the great outdoors, but these scenarios exactly where range anxiety could start to set in, despite a claimed range of over 300 miles at launch and a 400 mile battery pack coming. To remedy these concerns, and let customers use their truck or SUV as it was intended, TechCrunch reports the once-Michigan-based-company will be installing charging points at outdoor activity locations such as biking or hiking trails, rock climbing sites, kayak launch sites, and other nature attractions.

This is all part of the Rivian Adventure Network, which will begin rolling out next year across the country. Rivian founder RJ Scaringe told TechCrunch he is wary of relying solely on third party charging networks, hence the company’s efforts to create their own. They will be in traditional places, like grocery store parking lots or along the highway, but also at the various outdoor locations Rivian expects its R1T and R1S customers to use frequently.

With the more adventure specific charging points, Rivian is even considering making dedicated adventure routes that will have charging stations where they suggest owners could take a hike. Them, they could drive another 100 miles and take another hike while they charge their truck or SUV. Rivian says their chargers can give up to 140 miles in 20 minutes.

These new charging stations will be intended for R1T and R1S owners, but they may not be a closed system like the Tesla Supercharger Network. Rivian vehicles will use the Combined Charging System (CCS) style plug that TechCrunch says could likely become the standardized charging socket for all EVs in coming years. If Rivian uses this charger plug for both its vehicles and charger stations, other vehicles with the CCS standard could use the system, unless Rivian puts in some kind of software blockage.

With all of the clever features and off-road capability on the Rivian R1T and R1S, coupled with their upcoming adventure oriented charging networks, few other manufacturers seem to be embodying the “active lifestyle” cliche more than Rivian.