There have been a number of electric-car startups in the last decade, yet the only established new brand is Tesla. That means most of the others either went bankrupt, or are still toiling away at the complexity of building a new car company.
Rivian, a company that has been in ‘stealth-mode’ for the last nine years, has finally broken their silence, unveiling the R1T pickup truck, and the R1S SUV at the Los Angeles Auto Show. The sleekly-styled vehicles are filling a hugely important gap in the market, where trucks and SUVs loom large, but currently no electric options exist. Rivian’s hope is that their vehicles hit the road at the end of 2020, with a similar rollout to Tesla, releasing their higher-spec version first, and the lower-priced versions later.
The vehicles are bristling with technology, including cameras, as well as LIDAR, radar, ultrasonic, and “high-precision” GPS technologies, which should allow for self-driving capability.
We are excited for new, zero-emission options in the SUV and truck realm, especially since those existing vehicles are among the dirtiest on the planet.
The Rivian truck has three tiers of electric range, with pricing accordingly. The price for the R1T truck starts at $69,000, and the SUV starts at $72,000. Learn more on The Verge:
All three versions of the truck have a top speed of 125 miles per hour. The midrange battery pack version is the quickest, according to Rivian, hitting 60 miles per hour in three seconds flat, thanks to a total power output of 562kW (about 750 horsepower). The 400-mile battery version of the truck sends 522kW (about 700 horsepower) to the gearbox and will hit the 60 mph mark in 3.2 seconds. The cheaper short-range version will go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds, with 300kW of power (about 400 horsepower) on offer.
