EV Truck owner calls it quits after EV gets stuck in snow then "bricked" itself and shut down

[Anti Federalist]

God bless it's electronic brain.

Blasting through sand and snow requires maintaining wheel spin and rpm.

Lose that wheel spin and momentum and you're stuck like Chuck.

Sounds like that's what happened here, and it cost him $2100 to tow the hunk of $#@! to get "rebooted".



EV Fail: Rivian Electric Truck Owner’s ‘Honeymoon Phase’ Ends When It Gets Stuck in Snow

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2023/...stuck-in-snow/

LUCAS NOLAN 25 Mar 2023

The owner of a Rivian R1S electric SUV was overjoyed to have his dream electric vehicle after waiting for years. But after owning the car for just days, it got stuck in the snow and immobilized by a safety feature, leading to a $2,100 bill to transport it to a repair facility.

Business Insider reports that a recent incident involving an owner of a Rivian R1S has forced the maker of the electric vehicles to examine its customer service more carefully and think about making changes to improve the user experience. The owner of an R1S truck, Chase Merrill, encountered a difficult situation when his electric SUV got stuck in deep snow and a safety feature rendered it immobile.

In an interview with Insider, Merrill explains that he was initially overjoyed with his new R1S, saying: “I was in a honeymoon phase. It’s an incredible car, and it handles unlike anything I’ve ever driven.” However, when the car got stuck in 2.5 feet of snow, his love affair with the truck promptly ended. Merrill commented on his expectations, stating: “I had seen all the Rivian marketing campaigns with the cars just eating through the snow, so it was kind of like, man, this is disappointing.”

When the Rivian truck became stuck in the snow, a safety feature immobilized the vehicle. The vehicle displayed a critical error and indicated it would have to be taken to a service center. Merrill later suggested that a straightforward reset might have fixed the problem, but Rivian’s customer service did not mention that option during his initial call.

The vehicle had to be loaded onto a flatbed truck and transported to a service center located hundreds of miles away from the incident. The bill to transport the electric truck totaled $2,100, a smack in the face for Merrill, who had just taken possession of the truck in the few days preceding the incident.

This incident has drawn attention to the difficulties Rivian has had maintaining customer satisfaction due to delays in production, delivery, and customer support. Early supporters of the company have previously stated that they have lost interest, and some have made alternative plans to buy other electric cars.

Wassym Bensaid, Rivian’s senior vice president of software development, acknowledged the unfortunate incident, telling Insider, “There was an unfortunate cascade of events and edge cases that led to this situation. But we take this feedback as a gift. It’s great input for us to improve the product.”

Breitbart News reported in October that Rivian was forced to recall almost all trucks it had ever produced due to a flaw that could result in a loss of control:

Rivian Automotive, an EV startup founded in 2009, is recalling roughly 13,000 vehicles built in 2021 and 2022 after it was discovered that a fastener connecting the upper control arm and steering knuckle may have been improperly installed, according to multiple reports including the Wall Street Journal.

While there have been several reports from customers possibly related to the issue, there are no known injuries stemming from the problem, a Rivian spokesperson said.

Earlier this month, Rivian reported disappointing earnings that sent its stock price tumbling:

CNBC reports that the electric vehicle startup Rivian released mixed fourth-quarter earnings on Tuesday, which led to a decline of about 16.6 percent in its stock price during morning trading on Wednesday.

Rivian only managed to make $663 million in revenue when analysts were expecting the company to report revenue of $742.4 million. Although the company’s revenue was off the mark, its adjusted loss per share was lower than anticipated, at $1.73 instead of the estimated $1.94.

The adjusted loss before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization reported by Rivian for 2022 was close to $5.2 billion, which was less than the guidance of a $5.4 billion loss provided in November.

[oyarde]

EV trucks are junk . Everyone knows that .

[CaptUSA]

The Rivian R1s has a battery weight of over 1750lbs. Plus the additional weight in the structural support to carry that battery, makes it over 7000lbs in total. And they really want you to believe that this much more weight is more efficient than ICE.

The EV Hummer battery alone weighs as much as the entire Pittsburgh Steelers offense in their heavy run package. And you're carrying around that weight EVERY WHERE YOU GO. "Efficiency!"

EV's are not made for momentum, they are made for torque. (which is the first thing you notice when you drive one and why people like the experience - torque feels good.) But for snow, it's best to have lower torque. The additional weight is good for traction, but high weight and high torque means spinning.

One other point on maintenance costs. EV's are advertised as having lower maintenance costs because there are fewer moving parts. This is only partially true. Planned maintenance costs are lower; unplanned maintenance costs are much higher. But again, that's not in the marketing propaganda.

[69360]

He was rocking it back and forth after his dumb ass drove into over 2 feet of unplowed snow. With no belt on and probably the door open and it triggered some safety feature that keeps idiots from getting run over. All that needed to be done in reality was disconnnect the 12 volt battery touch both cables together and reset everything. There was no need to tow it.