[vanwetterb]

We live in western Colorado and go to the Moab area and southwestern CO on a regular basis. Last April we went to Moab just after our R1T was delivered and used the one fast charger (ChargePoint) in town. No problem! This last weekend we discovered that the same charger had an OUT OF ORDER signs taped to it. The only other chargers in town (besides plenty of Tesla chargers) were a few 6.6KW Which basically take 10 hours to add 150 mi or enough juice to make it to Grand Junction. We were camping up at Sand Flats so on our last night we had to sneak a charging spot at a hotel in town and hitch a ride back to our campsite. This was annoying.

We have been super supportive of Rivian and EVs in general and we love our truck. We got ours in late March and everywhere we go we get lots of thumbs ups and great questions about the vehicle. I'm reallydisappointed that the charger network has not grown to meet the demand that comes from seeing more Rivians and others on the road. Especially in more out of the way places such as southern Utah. Maybe the newly passed IRA will begin to address the shortage but it can't happen soon enough. Tesla has done a great job of building their charger network ahead of demand - now all we need is for Elon to let the rest of us use his!

 

[kirkSD]

It would be great if Rivian gave us some visibility to their expansion plans for the network. We have the same issue here in SoCal. You might think SoCal is EV heaven, and it is as long as you are near populated areas. But the biggest off-roading/camping areas, Ocotillo Wells and Anza Borrego Desert State park have ZERO DCFC infrastructure, and only a couple level 2 charging sites.

 

[rhumbliner]

This last weekend we discovered that the same charger had an OUT OF ORDER signs taped to it.

I don’t plan any trips without checking with PlugShare first. The non-Tesla chargers are notoriously unreliable.

 

[Roamtheworld]

This is an issue with ALL EV travel outside of cities. It is only made worse with the larger battery size in the R1T or other trucks like the Lightning or Hummer EV.
Road trips on paved highways are an issue in many parts of the country let alone two-lane roads or off-road.

It would be great if Rivian gave us some visibility to their expansion plans for the network. We have the same issue here in SoCal. You might think SoCal is EV heaven, and it is as long as you are near populated areas. But the biggest off-roading/camping areas, Ocotillo Wells and Anza Borrego Desert State park have ZERO DCFC infrastructure, and only a couple level 2 charging sites.

This is what sets Tesla apart from all other companies and charging networks. Transparency is key
I hope in 2 years once the national charging infrastructure plans begin rollouts across the country it will get better.

Like @rhumbliner said always check Plugshare

 

[Riviano]

See page 54 of this document. Utah will be building new CCS fast chargers (150kW or better) right where you want them using their share of the $5 billion that was recently allocated to build fast chargers across the country.

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/nevi/ev_deployment_plans/ut_nevi_plan.pdf

 

[Marchin_MTB]

We live in western Colorado and go to the Moab area and southwestern CO on a regular basis. Last April we went to Moab just after our R1T was delivered and used the one fast charger (ChargePoint) in town. No problem! This last weekend we discovered that the same charger had an OUT OF ORDER signs taped to it. The only other chargers in town (besides plenty of Tesla chargers) were a few 6.6KW Which basically take 10 hours to add 150 mi or enough juice to make it to Grand Junction. We were camping up at Sand Flats so on our last night we had to sneak a charging spot at a hotel in town and hitch a ride back to our campsite. This was annoying.

We have been super supportive of Rivian and EVs in general and we love our truck. We got ours in late March and everywhere we go we get lots of thumbs ups and great questions about the vehicle. I'm reallydisappointed that the charger network has not grown to meet the demand that comes from seeing more Rivians and others on the road. Especially in more out of the way places such as southern Utah. Maybe the newly passed IRA will begin to address the shortage but it can't happen soon enough. Tesla has done a great job of building their charger network ahead of demand - now all we need is for Elon to let the rest of us use his!

We are coming to Moab from the front range in just two days! Doing the research for this trip, I too was disappointed at the dearth of charging in that area. I posed this conundrum on another forum and had some helpful feedback. There is charging in green river as well as a campsite (bollard?) that allows charging for a fee off of their 14-50s but these are pretty poor substitutes for a working DC station in that area. My strategy right now is to top off as much as possible in Grand junction and attempt to get to Moab with as much charge as possible, the. Take opportunities there for L2 as they may come up.

 

[pticknerco]

I'm right down the road from you in Montrose and the lack of chargers in the area is definitely problematic. When Rivian built their first RAN fast charger station in Salida I thought that a location along the I-70 corridor would have made much more sense. We've been limited in taking our R1T on adventures because of a lack of charging stations here in SW CO.

 

[Ervin Hagerup]

I have had my Rivian for a couple months now in Arizona. Wonderful vehicle and nearly spot on. My two main problems are 1. The lack of running boards. I have to pack a plastic step for my older friends to get in and out every time! I know it is an adventure vehicle but the majority of trucks have steps for egress and access. This does not look very good to not be able to get people in and out without help.
Number 2. My biggest concern is the lack of Rivian Charging stations! After two months of being taken to 6.6KW chargers and asked to wait the weekend to complete charging, or being taken to an "out of network" charging station only to find 50% not working! This has caused me to loss confidence in the ability of the network to handle the job. Rivian was supposed to have a network set up to use in out of the way places. So far as I know, there are only four Rivian charging stations in the entire nation. I know from just using the Rivian from home to about 150 miles out and back is the only comfortable adventure I can have . Past that, I turn to my Tesla to go any further. I live in the Phoenix area and getting stuck in the hot desert is dangerous. So, when confidence is lost in the charging system, "Range Anxiety" never goes away and leads to a driver not wanting to use his/her Rivian except locally. That Adventure soon gets old!

One other problem"
Anyone else finding this issue?
My truck tells me I cannot get to Seattle from Phoenix do to lack of charging stations. I have to pay $50 annually to sign up with "Abetterrouteplannner" App. which is European and again make it harder to use it uses meter and Kilometer to figure distance.
This is a big problem as the lack of Adequate charging facilities makes the Rivian less of an adventure.
Any thoughts on this would be helpful
I love this vehicle but these are real world problems that will need to be corrected without delay!

 

[Riviano]

My truck tells me I cannot get to Seattle from Phoenix do to lack of charging stations.

I see the same problem if I try to go directly from Las Vegas to Seattle. The truck wants me to travel through the middle of Nevada which is devoid of EV chargers due to the lack of population. What it should do is send me through Utah which has enough chargers available but I see no way to tell the truck to do that. So what I would do is have the truck plot a route to Salt Lake City first. Once there I would have it plot a route to Seattle.

In case you didn't know, abetterrouteplanner has a website that can be used for free.

 

[JungleCat]

We live in western Colorado and go to the Moab area and southwestern CO on a regular basis. Last April we went to Moab just after our R1T was delivered and used the one fast charger (ChargePoint) in town. No problem! This last weekend we discovered that the same charger had an OUT OF ORDER signs taped to it. The only other chargers in town (besides plenty of Tesla chargers) were a few 6.6KW Which basically take 10 hours to add 150 mi or enough juice to make it to Grand Junction. We were camping up at Sand Flats so on our last night we had to sneak a charging spot at a hotel in town and hitch a ride back to our campsite. This was annoying.

We have been super supportive of Rivian and EVs in general and we love our truck. We got ours in late March and everywhere we go we get lots of thumbs ups and great questions about the vehicle. I'm reallydisappointed that the charger network has not grown to meet the demand that comes from seeing more Rivians and others on the road. Especially in more out of the way places such as southern Utah. Maybe the newly passed IRA will begin to address the shortage but it can't happen soon enough. Tesla has done a great job of building their charger network ahead of demand - now all we need is for Elon to let the rest of us use his!

We just returned from Moab and stayed at the Under Canvas 'camp' site and they had Rivian chargers there. I even have pictures. Sadly, I didn't have my Rivian R1T at the time - I pick it up tomorrow. Rome wasn't built in a day!!

 

[JimmyEV]

We just returned from Moab and stayed at the Under Canvas 'camp' site and they had Rivian chargers there. I even have pictures. Sadly, I didn't have my Rivian R1T at the time - I pick it up tomorrow. Rome wasn't built in a day!!

Exciting stuff @JungleCat! Congrats and let us know how it goes picking up your R1T! Are you going to take it to Moab?