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I drove the next-generation R1S and R1T electric vehicles from Rivian, and my main takeaway is that the company is getting better at making electric vehicles.

Not that it wasn’t good before, but it clearly needs to keep getting better to get to profitability.

Last week, Rivian invited me to Seattle to check out the next-generation of its R1 vehicles: R1T and R1S.

I already shared all the main changes, which are primarily aimed at reducing Rivian’s manufacturing costs, but here I am going to share my first driving impressions.

Electrek’s Seth Weintraub was supposed to go to the drive, and he would have been a better reviewer, considering he owns a first-gen Rivian R1S and has much more experience than I do behind a Rivian wheel to highlight the differences in this new generation.

However, some scheduling conflicts mean you are stuck with me, who has little to no experience with Rivian vehicles. I’ll do my best.

Again, the main goal of this update was clearly cost reduction. Rivian needs to roughly half its production costs in order to turn its gross margin positive and achieve profitability to support its expanding infrastructure, like service centers, charging stations, and more.

As I wrote in my previous post, the concern was that as Rivian cuts costs, it would damage its premium customer experience by making its vehicles “cheaper,” so to speak. I have been reassured on that front.

Most of the changes have to do with improving the manufacturability of Rivian’s vehicles, which will have no direct impact on the driver experience. However, in order to achieve higher manufacturability, Rivian did things like bring more motor engineering and manufacturing in-house.

That has allowed the company to get more out of its many motor and battery combinations – resulting in impressive improvements in specs:

I love all these options. There’s something for everyone… who can afford a $80,000+ vehicle.

You have the same options on the R1S, the SUV version, but it is a bit slower than its pickup counterpart, and has a third-row.

During my day of driving the next-gen R1s, I got to spend a little bit of time in the R1T Quad Max to do a few launches on a drag strip:

I’m not sure why you’d want to bring your pickup truck to the drag strip, but it’s nice to have that power when you can use it.

I couldn’t get the 2.5-second advertised 0 to 60 mph time, but I came close at 2.7-second, and I saw some other media people get it while on the drag strip.

Rivian also brought us to DirtFish to do a bit of rally, in a 6,000-lbs vehicle, yes, and some off-roading.

I was particularly impressed by the ability to control many different levels of traction controls and regenerative braking in rally and off-road modes.

Now, that’s all fun and games, and the R1s are both very capable off-road, but let’s be honest, most people are going to use these vehicles on road, and for good reasons.

Both the R1S and R1T have a great balance of premium luxury experience and utilitarian capabilities.

First off, the interior is absolutely splendid. I love the aesthetics. It’s like a nice compromise between Tesla’s ultra-minimalist software-based approach and the crowded luxury of some of the legacy luxury automakers.

I am a big fan of the new Plaid package in this particular version and the seats are super comfortable both in front and back.

There are a few software features that I’m jealous not to have in my Tesla, like Chromecast from your phone. That’s pretty cool.

On the road, the R1S was a smooth drive. I never drove the previous generation, but I know it was using the same suspension as the R1T tuned differently and that means some compromises. With the second generation, Rivian decided to go with some hardware changes between the R1S and R1T’s suspensions.

I was driving with Quinn from Snazzy Labs, who owns a R1S, and therefore, he was able to note a significant improvement.

Even with this improvement that I can’t quantify, I have to say that I preferred driving the R1T. You don’t feel the weight of either vehicle, thanks to the extremely responsive electric drivetrain, but I liked the slightly more dynamic driving of the pickup.

As a Tesla driver on the highway, I got so used to ADAS that I quickly missed it for any decent-distance travel.

I was happy to see that Rivian has updated its autonomy system with the next-generation R1 platform. The autonomy hardware suite now includes 11 cameras all around the vehicles with 8 times the number of megapixels. There are also 5 radars and ultrasonics all around:

You need a powerful onboard computer to handle all the data coming from all these sensors, and Rivian is partnering with Nvidia on that front. The automaker is now using a much more powerful autonomy computer:

With this suite, Rivian is aiming for level 3 autonomous driving, but the automaker is not sharing a timeline for that goal.

In the meantime, the company plans to release more and better ADAS features through over-the-air software updates.

I got to try the lane change feature on the highway in a R1S and it worked very well:

However, Rivian still has plenty of room to improve when it comes to lane centering, especially at higher speeds and in curves.

With this new next-generation, for the higher-end versions, Rivian is offering a new “Dynamic Glass Roof” that can change color and opacity at the touch of a button:

But the utilitarian aspects of these vehicles is really where Rivian shines. Obviously, you have the 7-seater third row in the R1S with still plenty of storage space thanks to the giant frunk:

Speaking of the frunk, you also have it on the R1T. Frunks are really great for electric pickup trucks since your trunk is replaced by a bed, which you tend not to keep as clean as the rest of the truck.

That means that you run low in clean cargo space, and that’s what a frunk provides. The R1T’s frunk is great for that, but Rivian goes a step further with its gear tunnel:

The gear tunnel is exactly what it sounds like, a tunnel for gear that runs behind the cabin and in front of the rear wheel.

Between that, the frunk, and the bed, I think it makes the R1T the most utilitarian pickup of its size, electric or not.

Electrek’s Take

Rivian is getting better at making electric vehicles without compromising on its owner experience.

Whether it will be enough to get to a positive gross margin, I don’t know. CEO RJ Scaringe warned that Q2 won’t be representative of the changes since the switch to the next-gen happened in the middle of the quarter, but we should have a much better picture of the situation in Q3.

Based on all the changes, I’m sure that it will result in significant improvements in gross margins, but I don’t know if it will be enough to erase completely the $36,000 in losses for every vehicle delivered. We will see.

In the meantime, this next-generation should also help Rivian continue selling its R1 vehicles with enough updates and upgrades to continue making them a unique offering in the premium SUV and pickup segment.

Now with Supercharger access and improving ADAS system, it is increasingly becoming an interesting option.

I’m seriously considering a R1T for my first electric pickup truck. My Cybertruck review is coming soon, and I’ll do a comparison.

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Opinion: it’s time to start recommending some Tesla alternatives

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Opinion: it's time to start recommending some Tesla alternatives

For years, Tesla has been the go-to EV recommendation for “normals” looking for a painless, low-effort experience from their first electric cars. In light of questionable recalls and its CEO’s recent involvement in controversial politics, however, people are starting to distance themselves from the trailblazing company.

All that begs the question: what should we recommend to EV noobs now?

Despite early quality issues and ongoing service headaches, the groundbreaking S3XY lineup of EVs have always had a secret weapon in the form of the Tesla Supercharger network.

That network of dependable high-speed chargers, paired with solid app integration that makes it easy for Tesla drivers to find available chargers just about anywhere in the US, gave the brand a leg up – but no more. By opening up the Supercharger network to brands like Ford, Hyundai, Kia, and others, Tesla has given away its biggest competitive advantage.

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Add in charging and route-planning apps like Chargeway, that make navigating the transition from CCS to NACS easier than ever with its intuitive colors and numbers and easy on/off switch for vehicles equipped with NACS adapters, and it feels like the time is right to start suggesting alternatives to the old EV industry stalwarts. As such, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Here, then, are my picks for the best Tesla S3XY (and Cybertruck) alternatives you can buy.

Less Model S, more Lucid Air


Lucid-$20K-EV
Lucid Air sedans; via Lucid.

Developed by OG Tesla Model S engineers with tunes from Annie Get Your Gun playing continuously in their heads, the Lucid Air promises to be the car Tesla should and could have built, if only Elon had listened to the engineers.

With panel fit, material finish, and overall build quality that’s at least as good as anything else in the automotive space, the Lucid Air is a compelling alternative to the Model S at every price level – and I, for one, would take a “too f@#king fast” Lucid Air Sapphire over an “as seen on TV” Model S Plaid any day of the week. And, with Supercharger access reportedly coming later this quarter, Air buyers will have every advantage the Supercharger Network can provide.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Less Model 3, more Hyundai IONIQ 6


Hyundai-free-charger-EVs-IONIQ-6
2025 Hyundai IONIQ 6 Limited; via Hyundai.

Hyundai has been absolutely killing it these days, with EVs driving record sales and new models earning rave reviews from the automotive press. Even in that company the IONIQ 6 stands out, with up to 338 miles of EPA-rated range and lickety-quick 350 kW charging available to make road tripping easy – especially now that the aerodynamically efficient IONIQ 6 has Supercharger access through a NACS adapter (the 2026 “facelift” models get a NACS port as standard).

The company’s sole electric sedan hasn’t seen the same sales success as IONIQ 5, of course – but that has more to do with America’s insatiable lust for crossovers and SUVs than any shortcoming inherent in the IONIQ 6 itself. All the same, Hyundai is helping dealers clear out its remaining 2024 and ’25 models with 0% financing for up to 48 months through June 2nd.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Less Model X, more Volvo EX90


2025 Volvo EX90; via Volvo Cars.

Once upon a time, Mrs. Jo Borrás and I were shopping three-row SUVs and found ourselves genuinely drawn to the then-new Model X. Back then it was the only three-row EV on the market, but it wasn’t Elon’s antics or access to charging, or even the Model X’s premium pricing that squirreled the deal. It was the stupid doors.

We went with the similarly new Volvo XC90 T8 in denim blue, and followed up the big PHEV with a second, three years later, in Osmium Gray. When it’s time to replace this one, you can just about bet your house that the new 510 hp EX90 with 310 miles of all-electric range will be near the top of the shopping list.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Less Model Y, more Kia EV6


Kia-EV6-GT-lease
2024 Kia EV6 GT; via Kia.

If half the fun of driving a Model Y is terrifying your passengers with its straight-line speed, then the Kia EV6 has to be a serious contender for a replacement.

The sporty EV6 GT made its global debut by drag racing some of the fastest ICE-powered cars of the day, including a Lamborghini, Mercedes-AMG GT, a Porsche, even a turbocharged Ferrari – and it beat the pants off ’em. Combine supercar-baiting speed with an accessible price tag, NACS accessibility, $10,000 in customer cash on remaining 2024 models ($3,000 on 2025s) and just a hint of Lancia Stratos in the styling, the EV6 is tough to beat.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Less Cybertruck, more therapy

Image created by Chat GPT.

It’s not bulletproof, it’s not easy to upfit, it shouldn’t be used for towing, and it won’t win in a straight fight against a vinyl picket fence. By just about every standard “truck” metric, the Tesla Cybertruck falls short against the competition from Chevrolet, Ford, and Rivian. On a more subjective front, the Cybertruck has become a symbol for a conservative movement that is (depending on your point of view) either making America great again or plunging a once-great democracy into an era of fascist oligarchy and widespread stupidity.

In short, it’s probably best to skip the CT.

If you disagree with that statement and feel like driving a new Tesla Cybertruck is the key to happiness, I’m not sure an equally ostentatious GMC Hummer EV or more subtle Rivian R1T will help you scratch that particular itch – but maybe therapy might!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Original content from Electrek.


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Republicans won’t defeat EVs – but in fighting them, may kill US auto industry

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Republicans won't defeat EVs - but in fighting them, may kill US auto industry

Republicans launched multiple attacks against EVs, clean air and American jobs this week, at the behest of the oil industry that funds them. These attacks won’t be successful, and EVs will continue to grow regardless, and inevitably take over for outdated gasoline vehicles.

However, these republican attacks on EVs will still have some effect: they will diminish the US auto industry globally, leading to job losses and surrendering one of the jewels in the crown of American industry to China, where there is no similar effort to destroy its own domestic EV industry.

Republican attacks on clean air this week included moves to block funding that has led to a renaissance in US manufacturing and also to illegally block clean air laws. They also moved forward with a procedural step towards increasing US fuel costs by $23B, an effort which the former reality TV contestant posing as the head of the DOT announced in January.

These moves shouldn’t be a big surprise – republicans have opposed clean air and American jobs for many years now, and they’re doing it because they want to maintain the bribes they get from the oil industry.

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But they should inspire worry for Americans, because they will only harm the country’s domestic manufacturing base in the face of a changing auto industry.

Republicans keep trying to kill clean cars

The last time a republican occupied the the White House, we saw similar efforts to try to raise fuel and health costs for Americans, and to block superior EV technology from flourishing. That didn’t work in the end, and EVs continued to grow both during that period and after.

All the while, fossil fuels have maintained their privileged policy position, being allowed to pollute with impunity and costing the US $760 billion per year in externalized costs. Much of that subsidy is accounted for in the cost of pollution from gas cars, which are one of the primary uses of fossil fuels, which means that, in fact, gasoline vehicles receive much more subsidy than EVs do.

And yet, EVs still managed to grow substantially, despite these headwinds. EV sales have continued to grow, both in the US and globally, even as headlines incorrectly say otherwise. The republican party’s attempts to kill them were futile, and will continue to be.

It didn’t work, but it did delay progress

However, anti-EV actions from Mr. Trump and the republican party did manage to delay progress from where it could have been if America actually instituted smart industrial policy earlier.

What if, instead of the bumbling, idiotic nonsense we went through the last time Mr. Trump squatted in the White House, we could have had something more like President Biden’s EV policy, which created hundreds of thousands of jobs and attracted hundreds of billions of dollars of manufacturing investment?

Surely the American auto industry would be ahead of where it is now if those investments had had time to come online. But instead, republicans are currently trying to kill those jobs, which has already led to several manufacturing projects being cancelled this year, depriving Americans of the economic boost they need right now.

Meanwhile, there’s one place that this sort of stumbling isn’t happening: China.

China is taking advantage

China has spent more than a decade focusing on securing material supply, building refining capacity, developing their own battery technology, and encouraging local EV manufacturing startups.

This has paid off recently, as Chinese EVs have been rapidly scaling in production in recent years. It took a lot of the auto industry by surprise how rapidly Chinese companies have scaled, and how rapidly Chinese consumers have adopted them, after having an initially slow start.

But that adoption hasn’t just been local, it’s also global. Last year, China became the largest auto exporter in the world, taking a crown that Japan had held for decades. But the change was even more dramatic than that – as recently as 2020, China was the sixth-largest auto exporter in the world, just behind the US in 5th place.

China’s dramatic turn upward started in 2020, and now it’s in first place. Meanwhile, because of all the faffing about, the US remains exactly where it was in 2020 – still in fifth place. Well, sixth now, since China eclipsed us (and everyone else).

Tariffs won’t fix it

The reaction of the rest of the world’s automaking countries has been to put tariffs on Chinese autos, hoping to forestall the country’s dramatic rise to dominance. (Although, due to Mr. Trump’s idiotic flailing, Europe is already talking about removing these trade barriers with China)

But tariffs have been tried before, and they didn’t work. When Japan had a similarly meteoric rise to global prominence as an auto manufacturer in the 1970s and 80s, largely due to their adoption of new technology, processes, and different car styles which incumbents were ignoring, the US tried to stop it with tariffs.

All this did was make US manufacturers complacent, and Japan still managed to seize and maintain the crown of top auto exporter (occasionally trading places with Germany) from then until now.

Then as now, the true way to compete is to adapt to the changing automotive industry and take EVs seriously, rather than giving the auto industry excuses to be complacent. But instead, republicans aren’t doing that, and in fact are working to ensure the American auto industry doesn’t adapt, by actively killing the incentives that were leading to a boom in domestic manufacturing investment.

US auto industry jeopardized by republicans

Make no mistake about it: destroying EV incentives, and allowing companies to pollute more and innovate less, will not help the US auto industry catch up with a fast moving competitor.

As we at Electrek have said for years, you cannot catch up to a competitor that is both ahead of you and moving faster than you.

This applies to individual companies, which took their sweet time responding to the challenge from electric upstarts like Tesla, and have now lost market share to said upstarts and let a competitor establish itself in a big way (even though Tesla’s CEO is now trying desperately to harm his own company specifically, and the US EV industry as a whole, by being the largest funder of the party working to destroy said industry).

It also applies to nations, which could have spent the last decade doing what the Chinese auto industry has been doing, but instead non-Chinese automakers have been begging their governments for more time, even though it’s not the regulations that threaten them, it’s competition from a new and motivated rival that is moving faster and in a more determined manner towards the future.

The way that we get around this should be clear: take EVs seriously.

But that’s not what republicans are doing, and in doing so, they are signing the death warrant for an important US industry in the long term.


Another thing republicans are trying to kill is the the rooftop solar credit, which means you could have only until the end of this year to install rooftop solar on your home before the cost of doing so goes up by an average of ~$10,000. So if you want to go solar, get started now, because these things take time and the system needs to be active before you file for the credit.

To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.

Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here. – ad*

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Heavy equipment space race heats up with new Vermeer lunar excavator

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Heavy equipment space race heats up with new Vermeer lunar excavator

International equipment manufacturer Vermeer has unveiled a full-scale prototype of its Interlune excavator, a machine designed to ingest 100 metric tons of rocks and dirt per hour, extracting valuable helium as it makes its way across the surface … of the Moon.

Helium plays a critical role in the manufacturing of semiconductors, chips, optics, and all the other stuff that makes EVs, autonomy, the Internet, and the rest of twenty-first century life possible. The problem is that, despite being the second-most common element in the universe, helium is pretty rare on Earthand we are rapidly running out. As such, there are intense economic and political pressures to find new and reliable sources of helium somewhere, anywhere else, and that demand has sparked a new modern space race focused on harvesting helium on the Moon and getting it back home.

To that end, companies like American lunar mining startup Interlune and the Iowa-based equipment experts at Vermeer are partnering on the development of suite of interplanetary equipment assets capable of digging up lunar materials like rocks and sand from up to three meters below the surface, extract helium-3 (a light, stable isotope of helium believed to exist in abundance on the Moon), then package it, contain it, and ship it back to Earth.

“When you’re operating equipment on the Moon, reliability and performance standards are at a new level,” says Rob Meyerson, Interlune CEO. “Vermeer has a legacy of innovation and excellence that started more than 75 years ago, which makes them the ideal partner for Interlune.”

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Enter: Japan


Komatsu lunar excavator; photo by the author.

America isn’t the only spacefaring nation eyeing a helium mine on the Moon. Japan announced similar plans back in 2023, with Japanese construction giant Komatsu announcing plans to develop a fully electric excavator capable of operating on the lunar surface.

The company showed a scaled prototype of the machine at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas (above), emphasizing the need to develop new ways to operate equipment assets in the extreme temperatures of extraplanetary environments beyond diesel or even hydrogen combustion.

On the airless surface of the moon, it would be impossible for an internal combustion engine to operate on the moon’s surface because there is no oxygen for combustion. Electrically powered machines seem the obvious solution with solar power generation supplying the electricity. But the answer is not that simple.

Temperature changes on the surface of the moon are extreme. They can soar to 110° C and plummet to -170° C. Developing electric construction machinery to perform in this environment is no easy task, but Komatsu is tackling issues one by one as they appear. Using thermal control and other electrification technologies, we are engineering solutions.

KOMATSU

Despite Komatsu’s apparent head start, however, Vermeer seem to pulled ahead – not just in terms of machine development, but in terms of extraction potential as well.

“The high-rate excavation needed to harvest helium-3 from the Moon in large quantities has never been attempted before, let alone with high efficiency,” said Gary Lai, Interlune co-founder and CTO. “Vermeer’s response to such an ambitious assignment was to move fast. We’ve been very pleased with the results of the test program to date and look forward to the next phase of development.”

Interlune is funded by grants from the US Department of Energy and NASA TechFlights. In 2023, the company received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research award to develop the technology to size and sort lunar regolith (read: dirt). Interlune has raised $18 million in funding so far, and is planning its first mission to the Moon before 2030.

Electrek’s Take


Interlune helium harvester concept; via Interlune.

We’ve got space travel, weird mineral extraction from another planet that’s essential for our technology, and a rapid, unchecked proliferation of AI. All we need now is big worms, a whole bunch of hallucinogenic narcotics, and the will to smash up a bunch of data centers with baseball bats – then we’ll have a pretty decent Dune LARP going. Yee-ha!

SOURCE | IMAGES: Interlune.


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