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Rivian shows off new details at NY Auto Show before heading home

[Image: Dacia J. Ferris/Teslarati]

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7 years ago

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Rivian has been on a promotional whirlwind since the company came out of the shadows last year at the 2018 LA Auto Show, and with it, the all-electric adventure company’s attendance at the New York International Auto Show this year has now generated quite a few more vehicle detail revelations from interviews posted online by show attendees.

Brian Gase, Rivian’s Chief Engineer of Special Projects, appeared in a number of videos describing features of the R1T truck and R1S SUV that are unique and otherwise not commonly known about the vehicles.

First, the number of storage compartments were one of the smaller details that stood out. In the R1T, the back passenger seats have bins underneath the cushions, and both vehicles have sliding bins underneath the driver and shotgun seats. A full size spare tire is in the R1T bed and can be removed for even more storage if needed, but to save space for storage and its usable third row seating, the R1S has an inflatable spare tire under the trunk floor.

Rivian’s plans for interior color options were also mentioned, and there are three: Forest Edge (the green inside the demo R1T), Lunar Rock (the grey inside the demo R1S), and black. Additional premium options will be offered for interior fabrics which are already a blend of traditional materials and the types of fabrics you’d find in durable outerwear. The cabins also feature quad-zone climate control.

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On the performance side, 170 kW of independent power is provided to each wheel which also provides for torque vectoring. The approximately 750-800 total horsepower in each vehicle works out to about 180 hp per wheel from each of the four motors.

Rivian’s high density battery pack, complete with a thermal control system that adapts according to charging and driving behavior, then powers the whole package. A giant battery might not seem like it would be a great choice for four-wheel adventures, but Rivian has tightly encased its vehicles’ power supply using advanced materials science to be capable of wading up to three feet of water. Since there’s no engine requiring air, only buoyancy prevents a deeper crawl.

Progress in the automotive self-driving arena is moving fast, and Rivian has already integrated that reality into the R1T and R1S designs. The camera and radar hardware on production vehicles will be capable of Level 3 autonomous driving that’s upgradable via over-the-air software updates. Rivian’s initial vehicles will ship with Level 2 capabilities and use data accumulated from its customers’ driving sent to the cloud to develop its Level 3 transition, very similar to Tesla’s strategy. Previously, Rivian has additionally suggested Jurassic Park-style autonomous tours might be available for owners wanting a guided, real-world adventure experience.

Rivian has several test mules on the road using F-150 bodies, but only one production design model of each car has been made to be used at shows and in videos.

Finally, you might know that Rivian was founded in 2009 by CEO RJ Scaringe, an MIT graduate (he holds an MS and PhD in mechanical engineering), but it seems lesser known how his personal life story is imprinted right in the company’s name. Scaringe grew up near the Indian River region of Florida, and that’s where the Rivian name is derived (RIV(er)-(Ind)IAN).

Rivian R1T truck at the NY Auto Show 2019. | Image: Dacia J. Ferris/Teslarati

BACK TO BASICS

All of those tidbits will now join the overall more well known features driving the appeal of Rivian’s R1T truck and R1S SUV. A recap of the basics may put them into a better perspective still.

On battery packs, Rivian’s focus on outdoor adventure means that decent battery capacity and range are key components if their product ideas are to be successful, and their much-touted 180 kWh battery “megapack” boasting a 400+ mile range seems to fit that bill. The mid-range 135 kWh pack claiming a 300 mile range is also decent for well-planned routes, and it just so happens to have a fun number of 2170 battery cells – 7,777 exactly if you count the battery inside the in-door flashlight. The 135 kWh battery pack vehicles are also the versions that will do 0-60 mph in 3 seconds, although all versions are speed limited to 125 mph. A lower end 105 kWh pack with a 230 mile range will be produced last, per the usual new EV strategy of offering premium cars before more affordable variations.

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https://twitter.com/PrincessDeixa/status/1118957811285811200

The first R1S and R1T deliveries are set for the end of 2020, and Rivian is currently taking preorder deposits to reserve their upcoming vehicles. Purchase prices will start at $69,000 for the R1T and $72,500 for the R1S before tax incentives.

Aside from being first to unveil a near-production all-electric pickup truck, two other features in Rivian’s electric cars have stood out. First, the quad-motor “skateboard” chassis that forms the base of current and future vehicles centralizes and simplifies Rivian’s innovations into a flexible electric car platform for its future product lines. This feature has also drawn interest from big-name partners like GM and Ford, the latter having just signed a $500 million deal with Rivian to use its tech to develop their first all-electric vehicle.

A somewhat new tidbit about the skateboard platform is the size difference between the R1S version and the R1T version. The R1S chassis is 375 mm shorter than the R1T to boost its off-road capabilities. Both vehicles’ towing capacity is around 11,000 pounds.

The second well-known feature about Rivian’s two outdoor-purposed vehicles is the amount of storage space incorporated into the designs. The frunks are spacious with a 330 mL capacity, and the R1T truck has what they call a ‘gear tunnel’, which is essentially a large cargo space tunneled through the lower middle of the truck’s cab. It looks to have the makings of the next social media photo craze, but that’s obviously speculation.

Both the frunk and tailgates have powered open and close functions for ease of use, the tailgate opening a full 180 degrees, and the bed has a powered built-in tonneau cover strong enough to support loading. Also included in the truck bed are 110V power outlets, onboard air, lights to illuminate the bed, and a gear cable that’s electronically connected to the vehicle. If the cable is cut or disconnected for any reason, the owner receives a notification on their Rivian app.

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Other details to mention are the electrochromatic glass roof built into both the R1T and R1S that can change color on demand, specifically in response to outside weather and light conditions, and the daytime running lights that also act as turn signals and charging status indicator lights. A charging status indicator is also in the back of the vehicles.

The last major Rivian feature to mention is the adaptable air suspension. Both vehicles’ ride height can be easily raised or lowered depending on road conditions to adjust comfort and handling characteristics. There’s even a ‘kneel’ mode to ease vehicle entry and exit.

STILL TO COME

Rivian’s R1T truck and R1S SUV already have enough innovative details to drive their consumer appeal as-is, but the company has even more developments going on in the background. Recently published patent applications have revealed a modular system for swapping out vehicle components based on activity need and a digital jerry can to extend the battery range even further for longer trips away from a charging network.

Additionally, trademark applications filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office have teased several other products in the works with names like 1C, 1A, and 2R. An interview with RJ Scaringe published by Bloomberg confirmed that Rivian is indeed working on six other products.

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Details surrounding Rivian’s plans for a service network are still slim despite the abundance of other important information about the Michigan-based company. The R1S and R1T vehicles will use CCS charging ports, but whether a charging partnership or a home-grown effort is planned remains to be seen.

A NY International Auto Show attendee recently posted on Reddit details gathered from speaking with Rivian’s team, including Scaringe, and indications were made that the company is interested in using Tesla’s Superchargers, although they’ve had some difficulties with the effort. A potential roadshow tour offering test drives was also mentioned.

A couple of the Rivian video interviews can be watched below:

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Accidental computer geek, fascinated by most history and the multiplanetary future on its way. Quite keen on the democratization of space. | It's pronounced day-sha, but I answer to almost any variation thereof.

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SpaceX readies Starship Flight 14 for a historic journey into uncharted territory

SpaceX finished Starship’s Flight 14 rehearsal, clearing the way for its first orbital flight Monday.

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3 hours ago

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September 24, 2026

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Sunrise at Starbase. Starship is stacked for opportunistic full-stack testing ahead of Flight 14 via SpaceX
Sunrise at Starbase. Starship is stacked for opportunistic full-stack testing ahead of Flight 14 via SpaceX

SpaceX has cleared one of the last hurdles before Starship’s first trip to orbit. The company posted on X Thursday afternoon that its launch rehearsal for Flight 14 was complete, keeping the mission on track for Monday, September 28. The launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. CT at Starbase, Texas, and runs for 75 minutes.

A wet dress rehearsal is essentially launch day without the launch. Crews fill Booster 21 and Ship 41 with thousands of tons of extremely cold propellant, run the countdown nearly to ignition, then drain everything back out. It lets engineers catch leaks or equipment problems before anything leaves the pad. SpaceX still needs a launch license from the FAA before the stack, which stands 407 feet tall, can fly.

Flight 14 matters because of where it is going. All 13 previous Starship flights followed a suborbital path, which works like throwing a ball extremely high and far: the vehicle reaches space, but it is always on a course that brings it back down within about an hour. This time, Ship 41 will perform a short engine firing called an orbital insertion burn roughly 25 minutes after liftoff, giving it enough speed to keep falling around Earth instead of back into it. SpaceX plans about six laps at an altitude near 275 kilometers (171 miles) over nearly 10 hours, as Teslarati detailed when the mission was first announced.


Getting into orbit also means Starship has to prove it can get back out. The ship must relight a single Raptor engine in space to slow down for reentry. SpaceX says it will only attempt the orbital insertion burn after flight controllers confirm the hardware needed for that return burn has enough backup, and its flight plan includes health checks that could shorten the mission to two or five orbits.

Flight 14 is also the first to put working satellites into service. Flight 13 carried 20 Starlink V3 satellites in July, but they came back down with the ship because that mission never reached orbit. This time, 26 V3 satellites are meant to stay up and join the constellation within a few weeks. Together they add about 26 terabits per second of network capacity, which SpaceX says is roughly 10 times what a single Falcon 9 launch of older V2 Mini satellites adds. Three of them carry cameras that will photograph Starship’s heat shield in orbit to check for tile damage before reentry.

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The hardware has changed too. Ship 41 flies with extra fasteners on tiles in the most vulnerable areas, fixes for gaps where superheated plasma slipped behind tiles, and curved tiles designed to reduce heating between them. Two tiles recovered from Ship 40 will fly again, the first reuse of any part of a Starship heat shield. Booster 21 carries better engine filtering and new relight software after ice clogged three center engines on the previous booster, leaving only eight of 13 engines to restart for its landing burn.

Ship 41 is targeting a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile, a new recovery zone after several Indian Ocean landings, while Booster 21 aims for the Gulf. Neither will be caught by the tower on this flight. Elon Musk said in August that a ship catch was likely “in a few months.”

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Elon Musk

Google just picked SpaceX for its first step into orbital AI

Google will launch its first Project Suncatcher AI satellite on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare next week.

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8 hours ago

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September 24, 2026

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Google is about to put its own AI chips into orbit for the first time, and it is paying SpaceX to get them there.

The company said Thursday that the first in-orbit test of Project Suncatcher, its research effort to find out whether space can host large-scale AI computing, will fly next week on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission.

The satellite, called MVP, is about the size of a refrigerator and carries four of Google’s Tensor Processing Units, the same chips Google runs in its ground data centers. Google originally planned to launch two custom satellites in 2027, but chose to move faster by integrating its chips into a satellite.

MVP’s solar panels supply about one kilowatt of power, and Google will run Gemini models on the TPUs only in bursts of roughly 15 minutes before the chips shut down so the radiators can shed heat. In a blog post, Google said its Trillium TPUs survived vibration testing that mimicked sustained launch loads of up to 10g, with individual components seeing 50 to 100g, and handled a radiation dose greater than a five year mission would deliver.

SpaceX and Google mull massive partnership on Musk’s orbital data dream: report

Next week’s flight, slated for October 1, follows a relationship that became public in May, when Teslarati reported that Google was in talks with SpaceX for a launch deal tied to orbital data centers. Google also holds a stake of roughly 6% in SpaceX.

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The two companies are chasing the same idea from very different starting points. SpaceX’s own orbital compute program is built around the AI1 satellite, a roughly 70 meter structure derived from Starlink V3 hardware that is designed for 150 kW of peak compute, about 150 times the power MVP will draw. Elon Musk has brushed off concerns about crowding orbit with those satellites, and SpaceX is building its Gigasat factory in Bastrop, Texas, to produce them, targeting an annualized rate of about 1 GW of space compute by the end of 2027.

Musk also posted on X on Thursday that “the amount of compute in space will obviously round up to 100% of all compute.”

Google has been more cautious in public. Its research estimates that launch prices need to fall below about $200 per kilogram before an orbital data center can compete with a ground facility on energy cost, a threshold the company believes could be reached around the mid 2030s. The Suncatcher team has said it expects the effort to remain a project rather than a product for years, which leaves the first real test of its hardware riding on a rocket from the company with the most aggressive timeline in the field.

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Elon Musk

Tesla Cybercab gets initial tie-in to localized, in-house cathode plant

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13 hours ago

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September 24, 2026

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has taken another concrete step toward owning its battery supply chain, and it’s doing so with what is perhaps the most important vehicle in its short-but-storied history.

On September 23, Tesla announced that it has officially built the first Cybercab with cathode material produced in-house at the company’s first cathode plant in the U.S., and the first in the U.S. overall.

Active cathode material is the most expensive piece of a lithium-ion battery cell, and it often accounts for more than a third of cell cost. For years, the industry sourced a majority of it from Asia, but Tesla’s decision to make it in the United States bodes well for the Cybercab project. This is the latest chapter in Tesla’s vertical integration strategy, which began in public at Battery Day in 2020.

At the Battery Day Event, Elon Musk said the company would build a North American cathode plant and overhaul the process to cut costs and waste, while also making some of the most powerful and long-lasting cells in the industry.

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The Austin facility took years to appear. Tesla filed permits for “Project Cathode” in 2022 on land near Giga Texas. By mid-2022, the building frame was up and Tesla later invested hundreds of millions of dollars as part of a larger expansion of the Giga Texas plant. The company stated it was operating the first large-scale cathode production facility in North America to supplement 4680 cell production.

One month later, that material reached a finished Cybercab.

The timing of this breakthrough is monumental for the Cybercab program. As Tesla officially launched the first Cybercab rides to the public earlier this month, production of the ride-hailing-geared vehicle is moving forward on the planned S-curve that CEO Elon Musk told everyone to expect.

Nevertheless, packs of Cybercab units have been spotted throughout the United States, in an effort to potentially activate the fleet as soon as the company gains regulatory approval in various geographic areas.

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On top of that, Tesla owning the cathode step and pairing it with its own in-house lithium from the Gulf Coast refinery shortens the supply chain that once stretched thousands of miles and subjects every pack to fewer external price shocks and geopolitical risks.

Tesla is not yet independent of all of its foreign suppliers, as some precursor metals come from mines and chemical plants. But the first in-house cathode Cybercab shows the company is closing the most expensive and most concentrated gap in its battery production efforts. For a vehicle like Cybercab to operate at a high utilization within the Robotaxi network, that control over cost is so crucial.

It is arguably as important as the software that drives it.

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