First drive: Rivian’s Tri-Motor R1 is more of a good thing, available now
Rivian invited us to come up and drive its new tri-motor “R1 Tri” spec vehicle through the hills of Malibu. Here’s what we thought about the drive.
The event was out of Rivian’s Venice Space, which was showing off the R2 and R3X as part of its R2 tour. But it also hosted auto journalists for a drive of the R1 Tri up PCH and through the famously snaky roads in the hills above Malibu, CA, and a roundtable discussion with Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe (which we’ve posted some insights from, about the VW/Rivian partnership and Rivian’s soon-to-be-open Adventure Network).
The new tri-motor Rivian, which Rivian is simply calling the R1 Tri, is a mid-spec addition to its post-refresh product line. It sits between the base model dual motor and the higher-spec quad motor (Rivian has had a quad-motor before, but cut that option when it brought motor development in-house, though it will return in 2025), occupying what one engineer told us is a “Goldilocks” position – not too much, not too little.
Although “not too much” is relative here, because the Tri still offers a whopping 850 horsepower – which is more than, well, just about anything. It may not be as much as the 1,025hp Quad Max, coming in 2025, which shattered records at Pike’s Peak, but 850 is still a lot of go-go-go.
That’s enough to bring you from 0-60 in 2.9 seconds, along with the debut of Launch Mode to help drivers coax maximum performance out of their vehicle. Launch mode will track your times, top speed, g-forces, and even capture your launch with the vehicle’s cameras (since we were on public roads shared with traffic and cyclists, we didn’t test this). It also utilizes Rivian’s cute “Gear Guard” mascot for a fun animation.
The Tri works with 1 motor in front and 2 in the rear, which means you have more control at the rear with two motors that are able to work independently of each other. This could come up in off-road situations with difficult traction, and also offers performance benefits in terms of torque vectoring on the axle that does most of the work during acceleration.
We drove the R1T truck, and in our drive on those narrow roads above Malibu, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to really stretch out that 850hp, at least not in a legal or safe manner. But we never felt even the slightest bit starved for power, zipping up hills and carrying the ~7,000lb curb weight along with us.
For such a large and heavy truck, the R1T was nevertheless impressively nimble. When the truck was in my co-driver’s hands, the rear end did feel jumpy a few times when going over slightly bumpy parts of the road – perhaps a different suspension mode might have helped with this.
While we tried several of the modes available, there are so many permutations of drive mode, suspension stiffness, ride height, steering response, regen mode and so on that it would probably take some time to really dial in the car to make it feel exactly like you want. I’m generally not a huge fan of different drive modes, though for some things like suspension and ride height it makes sense.
In terms of battery, the Tri comes equipped with Rivian’s Max size battery pack, which gives it 371 miles of range. Rivian says you can push this to 405 miles in “conserve” mode, but as usual, your mileage may vary.
These range numbers are both predicated on using road tires. Rivian also offers all-terrain tires with more off-road versatility, but these come with a penalty to efficiency, lowering range to 329 miles.
The Tri comes alongside the debut of Rivian’s new “Ascend” trim level, an interior with premium materials throughout and some additional new features, over and above the hundreds of changes that Rivian made alongside this year’s Gen 2 refresh.
For now all Tris will come in Ascend trim, which includes Rivian Premium Audio, an upgraded 960 watt Dolby Atmos sound system, a darkout package that replaces chrome badges with darker-colored ones, a 150PSI air compressor with a hose that can reach all four tires, and Rivian’s dynamic glass roof which becomes electrochromically opaque at the tap of a button if you want to block the sun.
The interior felt plenty comfortable and obviously spacious for all the time we were in it, though it’s not as directly comfort-oriented as some of the other large EVs we’ve tried, like the Volvo EX90 and the Hyundai Ioniq 9 (the latter was a concept interior, though).
The Rivian still gets points for being exceptionally utilitarian though, with plenty of pockets and storage spaces throughout. This is one reason why Rivian excels in customer satisfaction, because it’s just such an easy vehicle to use.
In the end, the R1 Tri doesn’t revolutionize anything about what Rivian was already doing, but just adds another option for owners who want more power and capability… and are willing to pay extra for it.
The new R1 Tri-Motor is available now, with R1T starting at $99,900 and R1S starting at $105,900 at Rivian.com. Deliveries of inventory vehicles look to have a 1-6 week lead time currently, so should be available by the end of the year – but custom configurations are quoted with a 8-12 week lead time, and thus seem unlikely that they’ll deliver by the end of the year.
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Germany’s largest offshore wind farm under construction, EnBW’s He Dreiht, just hit a big milestone: The first enormous turbine is now up in the North Sea.
He Dreiht – which means “it spins” in Low German – is using Vestas’s massive 15 megawatt (MW) turbines, the first project in the world to install them. Just one spin of one of the rotors can generate enough electricity to power four households for an entire day.
When it’s finished, He Dreiht will have 64 mega turbines cranking out 960 megawatts (MW) of clean power – enough to supply around 1.1 million homes. And it’s being built without any government subsidies.
EnBW, one of Germany’s major energy companies, has been working in offshore wind for more than 15 years, but He Dreiht is their biggest project yet. “It will play a key role in helping us to significantly grow our renewable energy output from 6.6 GW to over 10 GW by 2030,” said Michael Class, who heads up EnBW’s generation portfolio development.
The project is a win for Vestas, too. “With the installation of the first V236-15.0 MW, we have reached an important milestone for both the He Dreiht project and our offshore ramp-up, which helps Germany build a more secure, affordable, and sustainable energy system,” said Nils de Baar, president of Vestas Northern & Central Europe.
He Dreiht is located about 85 kilometers (53 miles) northwest of Borkum and 110 kilometers (68 miles) west of Helgoland. At peak times, more than 500 workers will be out at sea building the farm, using a fleet of more than 60 ships. EnBW’s offshore team in Hamburg is running the show.
The installation process is a major operation. The 64 foundations were already set in the seabed last year. Parts for the turbines are loaded onto the installation vessel Wind Orca in Esbjerg, Denmark, and shipped out in a 12-hour journey to the construction site. From there, the turbines are lifted into place. Meanwhile, crews are also working on internal wind farm cabling.
A partner consortium made up of Allianz Capital Partners, AIP, and Norges Bank Investment Management owns 49.9% of the shares in He Dreiht.
Read more: Trump admin halts $5 billion NY offshore wind project mid-build
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Tesla has released a quick update about its Tesla Semi factory in Nevada. It says that it is on track for volume production of the electric semi truck in 2026.
The Tesla Semi was first scheduled to go into production in 2019, but it has faced numerous delays.
Now, it appears that there is finally some momentum to bring it to volume production.
For the last two years, Tesla has been working to build a new factory next to Gigafactory Nevada, where it builds the battery packs and drive units for most of its electric vehicles built in North America.
Today, Tesla released a “progress update on the factory, confirming that it finished building and it’s now working on deploying the production lines:
Tesla had previously mentioned aiming for volume production by 2025, but it is now only talking about starting production toward the end of the year and ramping up next year.
The automaker reiterated its planned production capacity of 50,000 units.
We recently reported that an early Tesla Semi customer, Ryder, stated that the electric truck program is experiencing more delays and a price increase described as “dramatic.”
They now expect to take deliveries of their first trucks later in 2026 and said that the price has increased “dramatically,” leading them to scale back their pilot program from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks.
When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.
However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2022. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.
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Vietnamese solar panel maker Boviet Solar just opened the doors to its first US factory — a huge new PV module plant in Greenville, North Carolina.
The company dropped $294 million into the state-of-the-art facility, which will pump out Boviet’s Gamma Series monofacial and Vega Series bifacial solar panels. They’re using advanced PERC and N-Type solar cell tech, which basically means these panels are built to deliver higher efficiency and better performance across residential, commercial, industrial, and utility-scale projects.
The Greenville factory’s first phase is now online with an annual PV module output capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW). For Phase 2, which is scheduled to come online in the second half of 2026, Boviet will invest another $100 million to add 600,000 square feet and ramp up to another 2 GW. It will make high-efficiency solar cells.
Once both phases are complete, Boviet’s campus will cover more than 1 million square feet of manufacturing and R&D space. It’s one of the biggest clean energy manufacturing projects North Carolina has ever seen.
The jobs impact is significant, too. The first phase will create 460 skilled local jobs. Phase 2 is expected to add another 908, bringing the total to over 1,300 direct jobs, plus nearly 2,000 more indirect jobs across the region. That’s good news for Pitt County’s economy, real estate market, and workforce training programs.
“This facility is not just creating jobs, but creating opportunity, innovation, and a stronger foundation for eastern North Carolina,” said Senator Kandie Smith. Governor Josh Stein added that Boviet Solar’s move shows how North Carolina is leading the way in clean energy growth.
Read more: Thomas Built Buses debuts its next-gen electric school bus
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