[R99]

Thanks to the PowerFlex website, we now know that there are 13 Rivian charging stations that have been installed so far!

Projects – PowerFlex

www.powerflex.com

 

[Swanson]

But do we know where these are located? I went to powerflex website and found no help.

 

[Rivian-WI]

Some where I saw that it may be at Rivian's Irvine, CA office.

 

[azbill]

Some where I saw that it may be at Rivian's Irvine, CA office.

That was my guess on another forum, based on the background in the pictures, you can see palm trees.

 

[Wildabeest]

These are level 2 chargers, not the high speed DC chargers that will be on the RAN network. From the looks of it, likely at a Rivian office in CA. It’s likely a prototype for the Rivian EVSE that they will sell you to put at your home.

 

[Fpartida]

These are level 2 chargers, not the high speed DC chargers that will be on the RAN network. From the looks of it, likely at a Rivian office in CA. It’s likely a prototype for the Rivian EVSE that they will sell you to put at your home.

Rivian’s “adventure network” will consist of both DC fast charging along major highways that get people to State Parks and L2 chargers at trailheads.

 

[Fpartida]

Thanks to the PowerFlex website, we now know that there are 13 Rivian charging stations that have been installed so far!

Projects – PowerFlex

www.powerflex.com

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I think Rivian should contact the company called EV ARC

An Easy-to-Install Solar Charger That Juices Your EV Off the Grid

The first thing Desmond Wheatley tells me about his solar-powered EV car charging system is you don’t need great weather to make it work. “The highest concentration of photovoltaics anywhere in the world is in Germany,” he says. “The weather is appalling in Germany. Raining, cloudy and gray all...

www.wired.com

These chargers are solar powered self contained units. They can literally get delivered with a flat bed tow truck and no electrical grid hookup needed. These would be perfect for trailheads and other remote locations.

 

[Wildabeest]

I think Rivian should contact the company called EV ARC

An Easy-to-Install Solar Charger That Juices Your EV Off the Grid

The first thing Desmond Wheatley tells me about his solar-powered EV car charging system is you don’t need great weather to make it work. “The highest concentration of photovoltaics anywhere in the world is in Germany,” he says. “The weather is appalling in Germany. Raining, cloudy and gray all...

www.wired.com

These chargers are solar powered self contained units. They can literally get delivered with a flat bed tow truck and no electrical grid hookup needed. These would be perfect for trailheads and other remote locations.

Cool idea, but at 22 KWh of charge capacity per day and the Rivian getting about 2 miles per KWh (400 miles / 180 KWh) this thing is only good for putting a total of 40 miles of range charge per day for a Rivian. I don’t see it being a viable solution.

 

[Wildabeest]

Rivian’s “adventure network” will consist of both DC fast charging along major highways that get people to State Parks and L2 chargers at trailheads.

I sure hope they don’t install a bunch of these and use that as a way to claim big numbers of charger installed and success. L2 charging is not the problem, nor the solution. It’s in parking lots and homes everywhere. In remote areas, all you need to do is find a campground and pay them to plug into a NEMA 14-50 RV outlet (which, btw is 50% faster than the J1772 chargers you find in parking lots). We need high speed DC chargers in areas that don’t have them. Including major interstates across the northern part of the country. Yes, a few L2 chargers at so,e major trailheads would be nice. But there’s no way they are going to be able to cover the thousands of major trailheads we have in this country. The right answer is high speed DC chargers on the routes leading to those trailheads.

 

[azbill]

Everyone thinks solar chargers and solar Tonneau covers are some neat thing, but in reality they are not really useful for an electric vehicle. As for trail heads, many of those will be in mountainous and heavily wooded areas that would not have a lot of sun anyway.

For L2 stations it is cheaper to install them on to the grid (240V) than to install them with solar.

 

[R99]

Some where I saw that it may be at Rivian's Irvine, CA office.

From my understanding it's in Irvine. Makes sense since PowerFlex is also in California.

 

[Wildabeest]

And here’s how many charger are within a mile of there. I would not consider this something that’s needed or part of the RAN.

 

[Ladiver]

I sure hope they don’t install a bunch of these and use that as a way to claim big numbers of charger installed and success. L2 charging is not the problem, nor the solution. It’s in parking lots and homes everywhere. In remote areas, all you need to do is find a campground and pay them to plug into a NEMA 14-50 RV outlet (which, btw is 50% faster than the J1772 chargers you find in parking lots). We need high speed DC chargers in areas that don’t have them. Including major interstates across the northern part of the country. Yes, a few L2 chargers at so,e major trailheads would be nice. But there’s no way they are going to be able to cover the thousands of major trailheads we have in this country. The right answer is high speed DC chargers on the routes leading to those trailheads.

Sorry for the ignorance, but is there a direct cable from NEMA 14-50 to the R1T? What is the purpose or need for the wall EVSE?

 

[timesinks]

An EVSE communicates a max available current to the vehicle, waits for the vehicle to indicate it's safe to charge, then closes the contacts and provides the voltage to the vehicle. You have to have something performing these functions between the vehicle and the outlet.

There is no direct cable -- it'll be like a large power brick, likely with an interchangeable cord to allow it to plug into differently sized outlets.

This video explains what an EVSE does:

And this is a look at OEM portable EVSEs -- look at the image of all the Tesla dongles in Part 3. That's what I'd expect to see from Rivian. (Edit to add the link I forgot to paste: Review: rating OEM's EV charging cords (Tesla, Audi get A's; GM, Jaguar fail) - Electrek)

 

[Wildabeest]

Sorry for the ignorance, but is there a direct cable from NEMA 14-50 to the R1T? What is the purpose or need for the wall EVSE?

My Tesla came with a cable that included several adapters. It has an adapter that plugs into a standard 110v wall outlet and another NEME 14-50. No EVSE needed. I’m just assuming that other EV’s have similar capabilities. Somehow the Tesla knows how much current to draw based on what adapter is connected I guess. Just plug it in and it works. Given these are supposedly high tech vehicles, I can’t image they wouldn’t have similar capabilities.

 

[timesinks]

It has an adapter that plugs into a standard 110v wall outlet and another NEME 14-50. No EVSE needed.

The brick you connect the adapter to is the EVSE.

 

[Ladiver]

Thanks for the clarification. So if I have a NEMA 14-50 for my RV already and the Rivian has an adapter then I don’t need a wall mounted EVSE?

That would be pretty nice!

 

[azbill]

My Tesla came with a cable that included several adapters. It has an adapter that plugs into a standard 110v wall outlet and another NEME 14-50. No EVSE needed. I’m just assuming that other EV’s have similar capabilities. Somehow the Tesla knows how much current to draw based on what adapter is connected I guess. Just plug it in and it works. Given these are supposedly high tech vehicles, I can’t image they wouldn’t have similar capabilities.

It most likely adjusts the current based on the voltage input, not based on the connector itself. 12A for 120V and 32A or 40A for 240V.

 

[Wildabeest]

The brick you connect the adapter to is the EVSE.

This is correct. I haven’t used my charging cable in quite a while, but just checked and it has an inline brick that I can only assume provides the necessary circuitry to make it an EVSE. I forgot or never noticed that inline brick.

That being said, I would assume that Rivian would want to provide the ability to plug the truck into either a std 110v outlet or a NEMA 14-50 at campgrounds with RV hookups for emergency or totally out of the way charging. So wouldn’t they need to include something similar to what Tesla provides relative to a cable with portable EVSE? Or would they leave it to the aftermarket to produce something?

I’ll likely want something similar to what my Tesla has since I see the need to charge at RV parks until the Level 3 network is better built out. So I’d still opt for just putting a NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage and then using the portable EVSE cable/charger into that vs. having two EVSE’s (one portable and one fixed).

 

[thrill]

This is correct. I haven’t used my charging cable in quite a while, but just checked and it has an inline brick that I can only assume provides the necessary circuitry to make it an EVSE. I forgot or never noticed that inline brick.

That being said, I would assume that Rivian would want to provide the ability to plug the truck into either a std 110v outlet or a NEMA 14-50 at campgrounds with RV hookups for emergency or totally out of the way charging. So wouldn’t they need to include something similar to what Tesla provides relative to a cable with portable EVSE? Or would they leave it to the aftermarket to produce something?

I’ll likely want something similar to what my Tesla has since I see the need to charge at RV parks until the Level 3 network is better built out. So I’d still opt for just putting a NEMA 14-50 outlet in my garage and then using the portable EVSE cable/charger into that vs. having two EVSE’s (one portable and one fixed).

The only reason I can think of to keep the EVSE brick outboard is that it's a part with a higher failure rate and it'd be a lot cheaper to just buy a new brick and cable vs. having the vehicle serviced. It is something of a pain, as I never think to take it with me on my i3 and I don't need to on the road often enough to buy a $700 spare.