What NOT To Do at Tesla Superchargers With Your Rivian

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[BernardMolloyII]

I just did the trip from the San Diego area to Monterey this weekend in my R1T and used Tesla Chargers for most of it. I have an R1T Dual with a Long Range Battery for reference, and I have the same adapter as you do in your video (A2z). I left my house and our first night was in Ventura. I charged at the Tesla Charger in Ventura even though I was still over 50%. In San Luis Obispo I stopped for about 20 minutes and charged at the Tesla Chargers there (I did not want to rely on our hotel charger in Cambria - which it turns out was open and an 11KW charger, so I could have charged from empty to full overnight). The next day we went to Monterey via the 101 because they closed the 1 at Big Sur again, and our hotel charger did not work, so I charged at the Tesla Charger in Sand City right next to Monterey. For the drive home, we crossed over to I-5 and stopped at the VERY BUSY Rivian Adventure charger in Buttonwillow. We charged almost to full there because we were having lunch, and were able to make it all the way home on that charge.

Here are some things I figured out for this first go with Tesla Chargers.

1. It is worth it to subscribe for the month you are traveling. The cost is $12.99 + Tax, so call it $15.00. You can cancel any time. I did the math and depending on the cost at the specific charger you are on, you make it up in one charge. The chargers on this trip are very expensive, most of them were $0.70+ per kWh, which was usually about $0.41 with the subscription.
2. To Navigate to the Tesla Charger I found it best to find the available chargers in the Tesla app, then select that charger on the Rivian Nav, and it would precondition. You can do all of this from the Rivian Nav too, but only in the Tesla app can you see the prices you will pay, so I found it worth it to start there.
3. When you get to the charger make sure you select the charger you are parked in front of in the app to get the subscription pricing, don't just plug in. If you plug in without activating the charger through the app, you get charged full price.
4. I was surprised to find that if a charging station had any chargers that were not V3, it did not show up in the app to activate. An example is the Tesla Charging Station that is in the center of Monterey. It does have some V2 chargers and some V3. I could not bring that one up in the app to activate, so I had to drive a few miles up to the Sand City Charger. No big deal if there are a lot of chargers around, but it could be if you were somewhere with sparse charging options. I did not try to plug in to a V3 that was not listed in the app and see if it would charge at the higher cost, but I should have for the sake of science.
4. I did not have a single issue blocking chargers, at every site I found and end charger or a charger mounted horizontally to the parking space like in your video.
5. I expected some stink eye, but did not have a single issue. This was a very easy experience.

Great Video Ben. I am a long time viewer, but this is the first time I had something to contribute that was on topic!

[JeremySchoen]

i figured out a way to not take 2 spaces by parking a bit diagonally. In talking with tesla driver parked next to me they were all very understanding and appreciated the fact that i was not taking 2 spots, especially when the charger was busy

[kestralrider]

great video; I expect that the high quote by the journalist is for a situation for homeowners who need to upgrade their main service size. You eluded to this in your statements, but for the general audience, some people like me may have older panels and service closer to 100A, and adding a 60A circuit for your 40-48A charger is going to trigger a new 200A+ service. I'm going through this now as I get ready for my own Rivian. This would have been upgraded anyway as part of converting my gas to electric and getting my home ready for both Level 2 charging but also PV + battery. The cost for upgrading the service from the street wires and larger panel is the bigger cost. Adding the 60A circuit for the level 2 charger should be much less as you cited. Keep the great content coming. I'm still waiting for a Level 3 extension cable to be sold, but maybe the standards don't allow extension cables given the life/safety risks of charging such high voltages and currents.

[dennisbird]

A2Z is also working on a DC extension cord that will solve a lot of the issues for non tesla's.

[ElectrifiedOutdoors]

Hey Ben! Love your content! I just wanted to chime in with a couple of quick notes. If you navigate to the address of the charger the truck will not precondition, at least at the time of this writing. You need to select the charger on the map in the navigation. When you do that, it will precondition as expected. It will also do it if the charging stop is added automatically as part of your trip. The Tesla site is great for planning, however the Rivian navigation will display Tesla superchargers that are compatible so long as you deselect the option to "hide sites that require an adapter" which is enabled by default. Lastly, you can select preferred networks. In my case I like to select Rivian and Tesla. If you want to plan out your trip ahead of time the Rivian app has a trip planner as well 😎. You can tell which Tesla sites are magic dock vs NACS as well. The NACS sites will have a blue message that says "adapter needed". The Tesla supercharger option is truly a game changer!

[jacksonbangs]

I charge my 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV on a conventional 110 volt outlet in my carport. For me this is convenient because I don't drive long distances everyday. As a matter of fact I am less than 3 miles from work which makes bicycle commuting pretty easy. Awsome video.

[ryancarlson]

Nice video man! I don’t speak for all Tesla drivers, but I can tell you I’m thrilled that Rivian, Ford and Mercedes are able to use the Supercharger network! Not all Tesla drivers are Elon fan boys. Some just love EVs.

Thanks for advocating for courtesy as we share these chargers. Love the Rivian! I want one!

[LarsDennert]

Just park centered with the station if there isn't one convenient. The cable will reach for the rivian and will reach for a tesla next to you without blocking two stations in most cases.

[larsharris]

As you need an adapter. Maybe you could get one on a cord? So maybe 5’ long? So it would reach the front?

[ChrisLeiter]

I’ve seen a few Fords and Mercedes at the Superchargers so far, but not a Rivian yet. Glad to see that the network is opening up because that will push more and more locations into the future - as well as drive the adaptation of different lot configurations. As a driver of model 3/Y and CT, I’m really excited to see all the changes that are coming down the road. More pull through spots please!

[mosbys]

I have a friend who is an electrician and he installed it for me for a six-pack of beer. We bought the high end NEMA 14-50 online for $89 and the rest was about $65 in parts we bought at home depot. My install was simple and it took 1 hr. - so yes, it is possible to not cost that much depending on your circumstances. I'm in CA as well

[springhillfitness]

To navigate my R1T to Tesla chargers, I have to use the Rivian app and send the route to the vehicle. Worked flawlessly for several road trips!

[andarwalker]

Looking into a R1T myself, learning about home electrical capacity the fun way. In the chance that you're in an old home, consider the worst cost case of updating your breaker box and meter. My local electric company gave me a rough estimate of $3k, but I believe that is the high end AND it would still save me money over going to a Supercharger 24/7. Oh, and it'll look good when I sell it :)

[Sylvan_dB]

A dryer outlet is only 30 amps, for a max charging rate of 24 amps (20% off the 'maximum' is NEC requirement for continuous loads). If getting a new outlet installed, definitely consider a 50 amp outlet, for a max charging rate of 40 amps. However, that will cost more because it requires much larger wire (#6 instead of #10) from the panel to the outlet. The breaker and outlet itself are about the same, as is the labor. You might consider even larger wiring, but the cost goes up quickly and charging at 40 amps is already a major improvement over 24 amps (40 amps allows over 70kwh in a 8 hour charge).

[ChrisSmith-tcdf]

I recently just witnessed a Rivian R1S owner attempting to Supercharge using that A2Z adapter. He spent well over a half-hour working that manual latch back and forth in an attempt to loosen it up enough that it would fully latch onto the Supercharger connector to allow charging to happen. It seemed like it was locked, but it was just not quite enough due to stiff internal components within the A2Z adapter. He did peak at over 200kW though once it happened.

[DemetriusWren]

I got my outlet added in my garage for about $200 including supplies. When I bought my house, the electrician was helping me redo my old outlets in the home. I asked if they could add the outlet (my panel is also in the garage) and he did it in 10 minutes and had the outlet and cables already in his van.

[alecstetzer]

Had a Rivian road trip this weekend, used the lectron adapter and it conked on us twice.. eventually made it to the Electrify America one.... have the A2Z also so will give it a try next time...
(own 3 Teslas, so not only a rivian person)

[RadiumD]

I'm lucky I had a friend who works at a solar company hook me up with a 75ft run of wire to our garage! Was $400 for a 50 amp NEMA 14-50 socket install, plus the free Tesla Mobile charger that came with my model 3 and I charged that way for 4.5 years without issue. We upgraded to a Tesla wall charger last year using the same wiring. Here in San Diego

[wch]

Great video thank you for going back to basic info about living with EV, like it educational specially for newbie’s

[adjust.clinic]

I can’t imagine Tesla owners giving a Rivian driver the dirty look. I love both brands, and I would be excited to see a Rivian pull up (and take up only one spot.)