Watch Rivian R1T Hard At Work And Fully Loaded: Can It Survive?

Maxed out payload and off-roading in cold weather and snow.

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Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Jan 22, 2022 at 10:31am ET

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The Rivian R1T electric pickup has been put into a real-world test, far exceeding its purpose of a premium adventure vehicle. The question is whether it can survive a hard day's work?

The Fast Lane Truck - after showing a cool drag race and initial charging test - took the R1T to a ranch. At first, FLT checked the capability of powering various tools, using a 120 V electric outlet (there are two in the bed). According to the video, the power output is enough for basic needs (1,500 W or so), but some of the tools had a slow start. Maybe a 240 V outlet would be a better idea in the future.

** Rivian R1T has a total of four 120 V outlets (including gear tunnel) with a combined 48 A current limit (5,760 W), according to an update from FLT.*

The main test was to take the truck off-road (beautiful footage by the way) to cut firewood and haul a full bed of wood back home.

As it turns out, the Rivian R1T coped pretty well with the task. There was no issue whatsoever with driving, including when fully loaded with wood.

The vehicle, as shown, was equipped with 20-inch wheels and off-road tires. Thanks to air suspension, the driver can increase ground clearance to 15 inches. The payload is about 1,419 lbs (643 kg). Regenerative braking takes care of most of the braking on the downhill.

A cool thing is that tools were stored in the unique gear tunnel, however, a bit of a drawback is that the spare wheel is stored under the bed. It means that if it is needed, one would have to remove all of the cargo to access it.

What do you think?

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Comments

Overall, the video shows that the Rivian R1T is a very capable vehicle, which in theory could act as a workhorse from time to time - of course, if someone is not afraid of damaging anything or getting the interior dirty.

We guess that most of the potential customers interested in an electric workhorse probably would opt for something like the upcoming Ford F-150 Lightning, especially the least expensive Pro versions. Anyway, electric pickups will be a tremendous game-changer.