MKBHD Says Rivian R1T Is An Incredibly Fun Electric Pickup

Marques Brownlee (aka MKBHD) recently had an opportunity to spend 24 hours with the all-new Rivian R1T and he is clearly impressed with this all-electric pickup.

We were very interested in this initial review, as Marques Brownlee is a Tesla Model S owner, and an EV enthusiast and he also had a rare opportunity to check out the Ford F-150 Lightning, as well as the GMC Hummer EVs.

In short, MKBHD finds the Rivian R1T an “an incredibly fun electric pickup” and “the most impressive electric truck that I have ever seen.”

The R1T is a compact pickup, with a short bed, and unique design that is likable. There is a lot of hype around it because it’s the first modern electric pickup. Marques Brownlee quickly noted that this vehicle turns more heads that anything else he ever driven, including Teslas, and exotic. People were pointing at it and asking questions all the time.

Thanks to the all-wheel-drive, quad-motor drive system and very good air suspension, the R1T is “incredibly impressive truck to drive.” We know also that it can do some serious off-roading, but this was not part of the initial review.

Ther performance, acceleration and long range make the R1T one of the top EVs on the market, but not every EV-related aspect is fully unlocked.

For example, when charged at 35% state-of-charge, at an Electrify America station with a 150 kW charger, the charging power never exceeded 100 kW, while according to the company it should go up to 200 kW. We guess that Rivian will not disappoint and it’s just a matter of time or maybe specific to the early test vehicle. A cool feature is that the front LED bar turns green and is pulsing when charging.

The interior of the Rivian R1T is really good and unique, according to Marques Brownlee, with an excellent fit and finish everywhere (as it should be in a premium vehicle), except for the plastic latch on the gear tunnel doors.

Very cool things on the Rivian R1T are the frunk, gear tunnel and auxiliary features like air compressor or bluetooth speaker.

The in-house developed software of the infotainment system is very good in terms of functionally – as expected – however, as tested, it’s not super responsive, especially navigation – “super slow and laggy.” This area hopefully will be improved with some of the over-the-air software updates.

The Rivian R1T is an adventure truck that would be Marques Brownlee’s first choice among electric pickups, since it’s fun and the most daily drivable because of the compact size. The range, comfort, front trunk and gear tunnel are all good. It other words, it’s definitely worth considering.

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Rivian R1T specs:

• Range:
  EPA: 314 miles (505 km) (see details here)
  400+ miles (644+ km) version (January 2022)
  250+ mile (402+ km) affordable version to follow
• undisclosed battery capacity – around 135 kWh
  2170-type cylindrical cells (7,776), supplied by Samsung SDI
• 0-60 mph (96.5 km/h) in 3.0 seconds
• quad motor, all-wheel drive
• on-board charger: 11.5 kW (AC Level 2); up to 25 miles of range per hour of charge
• DC fast charging: up to 140 miles of range in 20 minutes
• wading depth: 3+ ft (more than 0.91 m)
• towing capacity: up to 11,000 lbs (4990 kg)