Rivian has yet to ship a single vehicle with the largest battery pack it said would equip its R1T electric pickup. And now it looks like people who ordered the top-of-the-range quad-motor R1T with the Max Pack will now have to wait until 2024, even though other powertrain versions of the vehicle will start shipping with the big battery up to a year sooner.
The news was broken by The Kilowatts on Twitter thanks to a screen capture of an email received by an R1T quad-motor Max Pack reservation holder who was announced that he will have to wait until 2024 to get his truck. The email also said that deliveries of dual-motor R1Ts with the large battery would begin in the summer of 2023.
The reservation holder is advised to reconfigure his order if taking delivery in 2023 is important, either by opting for the dual-motor version or downgrading to the smaller (Large, 135 kWh) battery pack, the one the currently equips all R1Ts on the road. Those who have ordered a Rivian will apparently receive updates every three months announcing them of changes to the delivery schedule or any other area.
Rivian has yet to detail the Max Pack, so we don’t know its exact capacity or the actual range boost that it will provide. The current Large battery gives the R1T quad-motor a claimed EPA-rated range of 314 miles (505 km) on one charge, and the Max Pack would increase that to over 400 miles (644 km).
The manufacturer also mentioned the Standard battery pack, which should provide around 260 miles of range and make the R1T $6,000 cheaper (and also a bit lighter). However, it can only be paired with the dual-motor powertrain and according to some older reports, you shouldn’t expect this configuration to begin deliveries any sooner than 2024.
Rivian built 7,363 vehicles in the third quarter of 2022 and delivered 6,584 vehicles to customers, marking a 67 percent increase year-over-year. Last month when the announcement was made, the company said it was optimistic that it would still meet its self-imposed annual delivery target of 25,000 for 2022.
