- Record flooding after Hurricane Helene has engulfed thousands of cars, totaling most of them.
- But while almost no gas car can handle being submerged, a Rivian R1T still works after being nearly fully submerged and carried over 100 yards by floodwaters.
- Rivian says it designs seals into its battery packs to avoid water intrusion, and it looks like those seals can handle truly unbelievable floods.
A Rivian R1T that was fully engulfed by Hurricane Helene's flood waters somehow still works, according to a Facebook video posted by Joshua Vincent Sauer.
In the video, you can see that the Rivian is covered in mud that reached up to its roof. The owner tells Sauer that he parked it near the Swannanoa River in the Asheville, North Carolina area. When Hurricane Helene hit, the water level rose, flooding the surrounding area. The cataclysmic flooding has ravaged the Southeast, devastating North Carolina and other states and leading to over 100 deaths.
Many roads and entire districts are still impassible due to flooding, and power and water services are out for countless people in the area.
Sauer said he returned to find the truck over 100 yards from where he parked it, carried by floodwaters. (InsideEVs reached out to the owner on Reddit for more information. I'll update this post if we hear back.)
Any gas car I know of would be totaled, as saltwater would have penetrated every part of the engine. But the Rivian's sealed for water fording, and the relative simplicity of an EV makes it easier to prevent water intrusion. Don't take my word for it: Look at the R1T he drives, and how it still runs after being absolutely swallowed by hurricane-level flooding.
The owner says he walked up to the car fully prepared to call is insurance company and report a total loss. But then his friend saw the door handles pop out, a sign that the battery was still working. When he got in the car, the owner says the R1T started up like nothing had happened. He's since fast-charged it and driven around town and so far noticed no issues.
It's no coincidence that a Rivian survived this. As part of my research for my story on battery fires after a flood, I reached out to Rivian for information on how the company prevents water intrusion. According to a spokesperson, Rivian batteries are well-protected from floodwaters and unlikely to pose a fire risk if flooded.
"In addition to the sealing of our packs, which are verified before vehicle installation, we monitor any exposure to water ingress within our batteries through our electrical isolation features," the spokesperson told InsideEVs via email. "We actively protect the customer and the vehicle from any further damage in such events. As part of our extensive battery testing, we also run salt spray tests to prove that our corrosion mitigations through the life of our packs are robust. Once again, our isolation monitoring features in our electrical and electronic systems provide adequate detection."
That isolation monitoring is important, because it should automatically cut power if it detects water ingress into the battery. If the battery is still working, that likely means that no water was able to penetrate the Rivian's sealed battery.
Given that climate change is making disasters like this more common, and that electric vehicles are needed to reduce our carbon emissions and prevent further damage, it's good to see that EVs can be made to function after extreme floods. But we'd caution any driver of any type of car to exercise extreme caution using a flooded vehicle. Some corrosion and damage will not be immediately evident, and driving any vehicle with flooded components could pose a risk.
If your EV still turns on after a flood, we still recommend getting it checked out by an authorized mechanic. But in an emergency, when essential services are still down and mechanics are hard to find, it's good to see that the R1T can power on.
Contact the author: Mack.hogan@insideevs.com.
