[DSK_SOBU]

hi all, question about charging at home. Does the R1 come with a "charging cable" similar to the Tesla cars? Or is the only way to charge at home with the $500 wall charger? I'm already set up in my garage with the 240V 50A power line, so I can add the wall charger. However, with the Tesla cars, I would just plug the mobile charging cable into the outlet. I havent seen much info about this.

 

[Yossarian]

I believe that the Rivian will come with its own cable (think it's on the website) but you can ask customer support for a more definitive answer.

It sounds like you have a NEMA 14-50 outlet already in place (4-pole 240v/50 amp receptacle, with 2 hots, a neutral and a dedicated ground). That should be all you need to charge the Rivian, assuming that cable that will come with it has a matching 4-pole male end. I'm not an expert in EV charging systems however, just someone familiar with wiring electric ranges. Hopefully someone with EV experience will confirm or failing that, set me straight.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Yes, Rivian includes a 32A portable charger with the vehicle — similar to Tesla. If you’ve got a NEMA 14-50 outlet you can use it and get about 16 miles of range gained, per hour.

 

[HiloJohn]

hi all, question about charging at home. Does the R1 come with a "charging cable" similar to the Tesla cars? Or is the only way to charge at home with the $500 wall charger? I'm already set up in my garage with the 240V 50A power line, so I can add the wall charger. However, with the Tesla cars, I would just plug the mobile charging cable into the outlet. I havent seen much info about this.

 

[HiloJohn]

It appears the Rivian R1T is delivered with a 7.5 kW “charger”.

 

[acmwallace]

I was just at the testdrive at Sonoma Raceway today, they had a really nice little display/booth about charging with knowledgeable folks (nice work Simon). The truck comes with a "base" level charger, that can plug into either a 110 or 240v plug for charging - I think you'll want a 50-amp circuit, and you'll get something around 16mi/hour. The wall charger is more like 25mi/hour, and requires a 60-amp circuit. The base charger goes nicely in a compartment at the bottom of the frunk.

 

[O. horridus]

See How do I charge my Rivian vehicle at home?

For the quickest and most convenient way to charge at home, we recommend using the Rivian Wall Charger — capable of providing up to 25 miles of range per hour at a 11.5 kW charging speed. The Wall Charger is weatherproof for indoor or outdoor use, has Wi-Fi connectivity for OTA updates and is covered by a 5-year warranty.

Rivian vehicles also come standard with our Portable Charger which can be easily stowed in your garage or front trunk. The Portable Charger is capable of providing up to 16 miles of range per hour with a 240V outlet — and can be used with standard 120V outlets for a slower charge.

Learn more about charging at home and on the road.

 

[DSK_SOBU]

I'm leaning towards just using the portable charger, but some states do have incentives and rebates from the power utility to get a Level 2 charger installed (brands and rules vary by state). In GA where I live, the Rivian wall charger would qualify for a $250 rebate from the power utility (if installed by Dec 31st....). Maybe the GA program will get renewed again in 2022.

 

[lefkonj]

I'm leaning towards just using the portable charger, but some states do have incentives and rebates from the power utility to get a Level 2 charger installed (brands and rules vary by state). In GA where I live, the Rivian wall charger would qualify for a $250 rebate from the power utility (if installed by Dec 31st....). Maybe the GA program will get renewed again in 2022.

Rivian charger is hardwire only, keep that in mind. I have a NEMA14-50 outlet with a JuiceBox charger just waiting.

 

[DSK_SOBU]

Right, if I switch over to the Rivian, I can disconnect and remove my NEMA 14-50 and hardwire the Rivian charger. But I also have to upgrade my breaker to 60A to get the max out of the Rivian charger. So maybe just chill with the portable cord and possibly add a juice box 40 down the line. My panel is maxed out but I'm really trying to find a way to free up some room to switch from a gas water heater to electric hybrid heat pump water heater. Oh, sorry, thought this forum was for Rivian and water heaters....

 

[Yossarian]

Right, if I switch over to the Rivian, I can disconnect and remove my NEMA 14-50 and hardwire the Rivian charger. But I also have to upgrade my breaker to 60A to get the max out of the Rivian charger. So maybe just chill with the portable cord and possibly add a juice box 40 down the line. My panel is maxed out but I'm really trying to find a way to free up some room to switch from a gas water heater to electric hybrid heat pump water heater. Oh, sorry, thought this forum was for Rivian and water heaters....

Welcome to the home wiring forum! I think you've reached the point @DSK_SOBU that it may be wise to consult an electrician to be sure that you have sufficient capacity.

If you have say, 200 amp service, and are already using most of that current for other devices, it won't matter if you have plenty of room in your box to add additional breakers; adding another circuit that will draw 60 amps will overload things. Should you need more capacity, you will have to upgrade your service sufficiently. This almost surely means running new higher capacity lines from the service head to the meter, then new higher capacity service entry cables to a new higher capacity box. Not a particularly difficult endeavor, but a fairly expensive one.

 

[Jake Blues]

These Rivian's have large batteries and will take serious amperage to charge them in an acceptable amount of time. IMHO, wall chargers are the only way to go with an EV. I have a 40 amp level 2 charger at home to charge my Kia Soul EV. My home charger is noticeably faster than public 30 amp level 2 chargers. If you return home from a road trip with 25% left on your max pack, it's 18.75 hours to return it to full charge with the included charger, and 12 hours with a 60 amp wall charger. That seems worth the investment to me!

I think having a decent wall charger and paying an electrician to install is just part of owning an EV. I guarantee you will be happier with a faster charge rate.

 

[camaroz1985]

These Rivian's have large batteries and will take serious amperage to charge them in an acceptable amount of time. IMHO, wall chargers are the only way to go with an EV. I have a 40 amp level 2 charger at home to charge my Kia Soul EV. My home charger is noticeably faster than public 30 amp level 2 chargers. If you return home from a road trip with 25% left on your max pack, it's 18.75 hours to return it to full charge with the included charger, and 12 hours with a 60 amp wall charger. That seems worth the investment to me!

I think having a decent wall charger and paying an electrician to install is just part of owning an EV. I guarantee you will be happier with a faster charge rate.

Good points. Also the convenience of keeping the included charger in the truck in case you need it in a pinch, is worth the $500 to me.

 

[shawnkaplan000]

Yes, i'm one week in on my Rivian and i now am starting to "get" charging. definitely get a Level 2 charger of in your garage. But to the initial question, yes, your Travel Charger will work, you just need a 240V receptical.

The higher the amperage the better of course, but even a 30A, 240V would do fairly nicely unless you expect to do back to back long-haul driving. For me personally, my long hauls are usually weekends away so coming home on a Monday i would have more than the normal 10 hour evening charge timeslot.

And then in a pinch, EVGO is starting to build out quite a few fast chargers in shopping malls, etc. They are VERY expensive to use however, so careful on that. And be sure to not make the same mistake i did...get their basic $4.99 package, otherwise you'll pay a $5 "session fee"...which i did when i was trying it out for the first time.

 

[rhumbliner]

It sounds like you have a NEMA 14-50 outlet already in place (4-pole 240v/50 amp receptacle, with 2 hots, a neutral and a dedicated ground).

To be clear, NEMA 14 and 14L devices are 3-pole / 4-wire devices. Poles denote the number of current carrying wires and in this case the 3 poles are hot-hot-neutral. The safety ground should not be carrying any current.

NEMA Connectors

 

[ERivTruck]

Stupid question and I am not an electrician so my understanding / comprehension on this subject is minimal, but if I have a 50AMP NEMA 14-50R receptacle in my garage already (used previously to charge our RV), would changing out the circuit breakers in the fuse panel to a higher amperage allow me to run the Rivian charger directly from this NEMA plug into the vehicle now such that I can get the 25 mi/hr charge rate?

 

[sciencegeek]

NEMA 14-50 outlets are rated for a maximum of 40 amps, which would give you 9.6kW at 240V.
If you want more you need to hardwire the charging unit.
And the panel has to support the bigger circuit breaker.

 

[racekarl]

Another reason you should not just blindly change out the breaker is the wiring between your panel and the outlet. A 50 amp circuit is likely wired with 6 gauge wire. For a 60 amp circuit you would probably want 4 gauge wire.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Another reason you should not just blindly change out the breaker is the wiring between your panel and the outlet. A 50 amp circuit is likely wired with 6 gauge wire. For a 60 amp circuit you would probably want 4 gauge wire.

The rivian EVSE is physically sized for 6AWG, iirc.

 

[ERivTruck]

Hmmm, OK, so if the electrician installed the wiring back to the fuse panel that is at least 6 gauge wire, it should be do-able right? After all the wiring is rated correctly, just need the circuit breakers updated, right?