Hi @Tobarus welcome to the forum! If you're looking for warranty information, Rivian has a battery warranty and a drivetrain warranty for 8 years or 175,000 miles. Are you interested in a R1S or R1T?

What is the warranty coverage on a new Rivian? - Support Center - Rivian

Our New Vehicle Limited Warranty is included on all new R1S and R1T vehicles purchased from Rivian. A full list of warranty exceptions, exclusions and limitations is located in the Warranty Guide. United States The New Vehicle Limited Warranties include: Comprehensive warranty: 5-year or...

rivian.com

 

Wouldn't be surprised if components (motors, etc..) weren't rated for 500K-1,000,000 miles.

The battery should be considered a "consumable" item which would need to be replaced during the life cycle of the vehicle.

 

I, too, have this same question. I ask more from the aspect of the computer systems. We all have computers that begin to run slower and begin to fail after just a few years. Since this thing is a giant rolling computer with a bunch of little computers, at what point does the thing need microprocessor upgrades based on degradation and Moore's Law?

 

It won't stop working just because the tech is aging.

 

Obviously, since the Rivian is new , we don't have any data to confirm this but if it is anything like my Tesla Model S, I am expecting that it will be much less expensive to maintain and should run 200k+ miles without major expenses as compared to my Cadillac Escalade which I am spending 3k+ a year on general maintenance recommendations. I have had the Tesla for 6.5 yrs, during that time I had the computer display module replaced once under warranty - I believe it would have been a 3k expense if it wasn't under warranty. I also had a door handle and window mechanism repaired under warranty but that is really it. I have 88k miles on the vehicle and I have not needed the brakes replaced which is pretty typical of Teslas to go 100K + without needing a brake job. No oil or oil filter changes/radiator service, and all the other parts that go with a gas powered vehicle, so the annual cost to maintain the vehicle is very low and it runs just like it did when it was a brand new vehicle. I am hoping that my experience with the Rivian SUV will be similar. I am a fan of electric vehicles. I have a GEM car as well - many of these GEM cars out there are 20+ years old and running like new vehicles and retaining their value.

 

Never mind that, there is absolutely no dealers. Now when something goes wrong, do you mail it back in a envelope 😂

 

^ that would be one big envelope!

"Extra Postage Required"

 

Yup, and the postage would be horrible 😆

 

SO STOKED THERE ARE NO DEALERS INVOLVED... Service will be interesting at first for sure, and there will be growing pains, but dealers??? No thank you.

 

Luckily scheduled maintenance is very minimal.

 

I’m willing to wager that for the most basic and likely of regular services like tire rotation, brakes, blinker fluid, etc, it would be hard for a reputable shops to void the warranty. Further, I expect to see more shops becoming EV-competent in short order as SAE has had hybrid and electric vehicle related courses for technicians.

Continue to fight the good fight on Right-To-Repair initiatives where you live and we’ll all be in great shape!

 

How the hell do you void a warranty by rotating tires and adding fluid? That isn't even a thing.

 

Rotating tires really should never cause a warranty issue.

However, I've seen shops cause major problems with fluid changes. Using the wrong fluid, or not following the procedure correctly can wreak havoc. Modern vehicles can often have oddly specific requirements for which fluid is necessary and how to properly check the level. Many transmissions, for example, require you to warm them up to a specific temperature (as confirmed via scan tool) and shift through gears and then check the fluid within a certain time window. If you don't follow that procedure you'll under/over fill them.

My motorcycle has a baffling procedure for checking engine oil fill. You have to start the engine and warm it for several minutes, then shut it off, wait at least 2 but not more than 3 minutes and check the level. This is not only annoying, but it makes me wonder: How do we know it's safe to start/run the engine if we don't already know the fluid level is correct? What was wrong with the "old" sight glasses? I used to be able to bend over and immediately know if the oil level was correct. I'd check it every time before I rode. Now, I can't. /Rant

I cringe when I see people at the "quick lube" places; asking for mistakes, in my opinion.

 

Having had a wheel and car get significantly damaged when lugs were not torqued to spec by technicians before driving, it is easily possible for a shop to violate the warranty (in part) simply rotating tires and performing other simple maintenance, however unlikely.

I’ve also found oil pan plugs not torqued to spec and other little items over the years always use a reputable shop and spot check when you can!

 

What do you think about rivian saying hey ford can we work out a deal of some sort to handle the repairs if needed ? Since they are a partner.

 

Ford doesn’t have the power to do that. Ford doesn’t own ANY repair facilities…. All repairs are handled by franchise dealers. Rivian could theoretically try to negotiate with dealers for access to service bays, but they’d have to negotiate with each one individually — or at least with dealer groups. It’s a lot of work; and even if Rivian did it, they wouldn’t be able to control the full experience, which is something they have repeatedly stated is a top priority for them.

 

Putting aside the warranty, do we know how long roughly the batteries in these vehicles will last? And what can we expect the price to be to replace it when that time comes, if that's even possible to guestimate?

 

OP's original question is entirely valid with regard to the hundreds of individual microprocessors in these vehicles. Microprocessors do degrade over time, particulary when exposed to extreme heat and cold, and failure of any of them can result in a very expensive repair. One of the big reasons the legacy automakers are experiencing a "chip shortage" is they use older microprocessor designs with larger gaps between paths. There are relatively few fabs still producing chips on those scales and many shifted away from vehicle chips during the pandemic. The legacy makers don't use these antiquated chips because they are idiots or have bad engineers; it's a deliberate choice. Older microprocessors have been thoroughly tested in a huge number of real-world circumstances and are generally more robust than the incredibly intricate and thin modern designs used in modern CPUs and graphics cards. Hence the legacy makers have a fairly good idea of how long those processors will last before entering the zone of possible or likely failure. There is no such assurance with more recent designs.

I have no idea what kind of chips rivian is using in its systems, but I think it's entirely valid to ask how long they can be expected to last. If they're using current designs, the answer is probably going to be determined by trial by fire, and when the failures happen, they will be expensive. So, does anyone know what the warranty on those systems is? I guess if they're part of the power train, the 8yr/175K would apply, but otherwise all you've got is 5 years...

 

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I don't know the answer, but I believe that Intel, TSMC, GF, Apple, Samsung, etc do have that information, even for their latest-and-greatest designs.

I don't think we are relegated to decades-old tech to get a reliable vehicle.