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Why Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks

Why Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks


Rivian truck is the future of electric pickup truck that draw big companies like Amazon and Ford to invest in Rivian stock, it's a smart move for them.


Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks
Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks

Today I'm gonna talk about the future of pickup trucks, there's a company now called Rivian automotive, they've had various names but their CEO has a doctorate from MIT so the guy's no slouch there, they ended up in Michigan in 2015 to be closer to their suppliers, and now they're working on only electric vehicles.

And in 2017 Rivian truck company bought an old Mitsubishi Factory in Normal Illinois where they're gonna be building these electric vehicles, now there's some money behind these guys. 

In 2017 Sumitomo a big Japanese company put undisclosed amount money into them to give them capital to start building stuff, one was an electric five-passenger pickup truck and the other was a seven-passenger SUV, popular things pickup truck and SUV.


Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks
Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks


Rivian Stock Draw the Attention of Amazon and Ford


Well this Rivian truck obviously impressed some people cuz in 2019  this electric car company made Amazon invest 700 million dollars into Rivian stock, and then again in 2019 Ford Motor Company threw in another 500 million, now the electric pickup actual production is scheduled for the year 2020. 

Now Amazon's no fool of a company, Bezos seems to know how to print money out and Ford Motor Company it's a smart move for them because those Rivian investors they really know the Rivian truck, hey they're not an electric company, 

So it could be relatively easy for Ford to take the Rivian SUV electric bass and then slap a Ford pickup truck on the top of those electric car companies, as the saying goes, why reinvent the wheel, if you got a company that's building a good electric pickup truck base, and Ford adds all their stuff on top of it, to me that makes total sense.


Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks
Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks


Rivian Skateboard Platform 


Now both of the Rivian truck vehicles use what's called the skateboard platform, they use the same basic battery, people can put on that skateboard assembly whatever they want now this ribbing skateboard design each wheel has its own motor, so it can be controlled independently which means, your not going to get stuck in the mud. 

Each wheel can have active management, if one slips it can get more power to the other one, talk about all-wheel-drive, you got a motor at each wheel you can really control them. 


Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks
Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks


Why The Rivian is the Fast Pickup Truck


They pull that one off probably gonna sell quite a few of these things, and with a forecast of 0 to 60 time of acceleration in 3.2 seconds, that's what's making this Rivian SUV is the fast pickup truck.


Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks
Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks


Rivian Towing Capacity Range


The forecasted payload in the bed is seventeen hundred and sixty-four pounds, so it can carry quite a bit of weight, and the Rivian towing capacity range is going to be eleven thousand pounds of towing, so I can do some serious towing too.

And as an added bonus the Rivian truck has what they're calling a frunk, it's a trunk in the front, it doesn't have an engine anymore and there's a 12 cubic foot space where the engine used to be that's now a trunk that you can put stuff in, a frunk.


Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks
Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks


The Rivian Fast DC Charger


But then I know people are gonna say, how long does it take to charge these things up, they claim that the Rivian truck can have a fast DC charger set up, that can get an 80 percent charge in just 15 minutes, hey the head of the company did graduate from MIT it's not the easiest school in the world. 

Now the Rivian truck company planning on having a late 2020 model which they'll probably market as a 2021 vehicle, they're not out yet but it sure seems interesting to me, now if they can really have a fast charger that recharges at 80 percent in 15 minutes, that's gonna be a big sales point for guys that want a serious electric pickup truck.


Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks
Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks

I do have to wonder about one thing a lot of the weight is below the wheels electric, batteries weigh a lot they're really heavy, you got to put the weight somewhere, yeah it'll handle better was it lower. 

But people buy pickup trucks to drive all over the place, and take care in Houston when floods all the time, they're always driving through flood water, if that battery and that electronics is that low, I for one wonder will these things be able to handle water like that, or will the electronics short out in them. 


Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks
Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks

Rivian Range Options & Battery Size


Now Rivian truck has three versions of battery packs and motors on them:


  • One is 105 kilowatts 
  • One is 135 kilowatts 


I know people are gonna say, yeah the Rivian truck got power, but how long do they last I don't want to an electric pickup truck that can go 80 miles and runs out of power, well the 150-kilowatt hour Rivian Truck version one is forecasted to have a range of 400 miles. 


And the biggest one has:
180 kilowatts it's a lot of power.
 

And the most powerful one has 750 horsepower and 826 foot-pounds of torque, I mean logically an electric motor for a pickup makes total sense, because of electric motors have full torque all the time, as soon as you turn them on all the power comes out, so they'd be great for hauling things in the bed and for towing things. 

The big old diesel-electric trains you see go down a train track yeah they have diesel engines but they just generate electricity, and the electric motors are what drive to trains and trains certainly can pull an awful lot of stuff like a mile of trains can be pulled by a few engines, there's a lot of power in electric motors for pulling.


Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks
Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks


Rivian Electronic Brakes System


Because there's an example years ago a Mercedes Benz tried electronic brakes on their vehicles, and they found that the brakes being at the wheels were always getting wet, and the stupid things were getting corroded by water, and a lot of them shorted out and guess what Mercedes did, they said forget that and they stopped making the electric braking systems. 

So I do wonder how all this electric stuff is gonna be sealed on the Rivian truck, that guys are gonna take all over the place, and hey if they're driving them through floodwater and each wheel is a motor, and the battery's low, it makes me kind of wonder, I mean hey the Germans made u-boats that were basically diesel-electric that were underwater. 

But then again that was inside I waterproof Hull the inner Hull was waterproof, what's gonna happen with an electric pickup truck with all that electronics down so low, because like anything else, but let's wait till something's around a while to see what happens to it personally I wouldn't go jumping out and buying an electric pickup truck, only to find out my own Rivian truck, you can't drive them in any water or all that stuff gets sorted out. 


Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks
Why the Rivian Truck is the Future of Pickup Trucks


Rivian Truck Price and Technology


The Rivian price (R1T) was originally announced from the mother company with a $69,000 base price "well-equipped vehicle", and for and the Rivian R1S Electric SUV at $72,000.

I personally would wait on it, I find it fascinating technology, but unless I lived in California, someplace where you don't have to worry about water intrusion, I might think twice about buying an electric pickup truck and probably I gonna take the Rivian truck.

So now you know a little bit more about the future of electronic pickup trucks and only time will tell if it's gonna be a success, is it gonna be a failure, or is it gonna be something in between.