The Rivian R1S on a pullout along the Schneebly Hill Road. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nUp near Flagstaff, we found some muddy trails through the forest that were a blast to explore. The Rivian\u2019s air suspension makes adjusting the height of the vehicle to suit the terrain a breeze, and with some extra care on a handful of rocky sections, we were able to put down about 30 miles of trails before finding camp for the night.<\/p>\n
Along the way we took a few pit stops for lunch and coffee and it was really nice having a fully dustproof interior with all the comforts of home, including 110 volt AC outlets that made quick work of our electric, water, kettle and coffee setup.<\/p>\nWe put our new VSSL camp coffee setup to the test in the Rivian while enjoying music from Rivian\u201ds optional Camp Speaker. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe AC outlets also came in clutch for the food setup, powering my portable fridge for the duration of the trip. It was great to be able to reach into the back and pull out a cold kombucha or throw together a refreshing salad for a snack along the trail.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Camping<\/span><\/h3>\nWe found camp for the night in the National Forest and were eager to test out Camp Mode in the Rivian. Because it was just a loaner, I opted to throw an inflatable mattress in the back with some blankets and call that good for the trip.<\/p>\nCamp Mode transforms the R1S into a pod hotel on wheels but you have to bring your own view. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nEnabling Camp Mode allows the Rivian to maintain whatever temperature you set throughout the night. It also gives you the option to keep the outlets on which is nice if you want to keep a fridge running or charge your devices overnight. Doing so does come at a penalty as it requires the vehicle to keep the DC to AC inverter running. So just be aware of the additional range penalty of keeping the outlets on.<\/p>\nCamp Mode in the Rivian R1S. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWe tried it with both the climate control on and off and found it to be more than sufficient in both modes. It\u2019s an extremely comfortable and spacious vehicle to camp in, and while I wouldn\u2019t recommend a 6-inch air mattress as the ideal solution, it was more than up to the task for a quick week-long trip in the Arizona high desert in the spring.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Interior<\/span><\/h3>\nStepping into the 2025 Rivian R1S, it immediately felt like a premium vehicle. The vegan synthetic leather high quality stitched seams scream quality even before you get in. The real wood trim is beautifully sculpted and tastefully finished in a range of trims to suit a wide range of customer preferences.<\/p>\nImage credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nQuality is everywhere you look and evident in everything you touch. They did a fantastic job of blending the synthetic leather with wood for an overall feel that just resonates with their core brand values.<\/p>\n
The R1S does a fantastic job of packaging, allowing customers to seat up to seven people with the ability to fold down the rear seats into a fully flat platform for additional storage.<\/p>\n
As an adventure vehicle though, the premium interior almost feels a bit too nice to be taking out into the mud, dirt, and grime of real overlanding and off-roading trips where dust, mud, snow, and grime add their own special seasoning to the experience. Of course, the R1S SUV and R1T Truck are Rivian\u2019s premium vehicles with more affordable offerings at more affordable price points like the upcoming Rivian R2 and R3 coming over the next few years.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Driving Experience<\/span><\/h3>\nGetting onto the freeway in the R1S was a breeze. Its three motors and max pack battery translated to plenty of power to accelerate into traffic and to do whatever you needed to do once you get there. The suspension kept it tight and comfortable, allowing the driver to adjust the height of the vehicle if you want a little more visibility than you\u2019re getting from the current setting, thanks to the R1S\u2019s air struts.<\/p>\n
For longer drives like my first leg of the drive from Ventura, California, out to Flagstaff, Arizona, I only had to drop the destination into the navigation. From there, Rivian\u2019s onboard computer then calculated charging stops and I was on my way. With Rivian\u2019s CCS to NACS adapter, you\u2019re able to charge at Tesla\u2019s NACS-enabled superchargers as well as the ever-growing array of public CCS fast chargers, including Rivian\u2019s own Rivian Adventure Network fast chargers.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Enhanced Highway Assist<\/span><\/h3>\nHopping on the freeway unlocks Rivian\u2019s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). On pre-mapped highways and freeways, Rivian\u2019s Enhanced Highway Assist (EHA) maintains a safe distance from the car ahead and takes over steering duty. The driver still needs to pay attention and be ready to takeover but when active, it does most of the heavy lifting.<\/p>\nRivian\u2019s Enhanced Highway Assist takes over the bulk of the driving duties and is a game changer in stop and go traffic. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMuch like with Tesla\u2019s autopilot, you activate the system by pulling the right steering wheel stalk back towards you twice and the system gives a small chime along with a visual alert on the gauge cluster screen to let you know it\u2019s active. The driver can then change the set speed and simply monitor the vehicle as it slips into the flow of traffic.<\/p>\n
As it stands today, Rivian\u2019s Enhanced Highway Assist is less capable than Tesla\u2019s current Full Self Driving solution as it\u2019s not able to change lanes on the highway. Rivian has made lane changes easier than Tesla does, however, allowing the driver to initiate a manual lane change with the turn signals at which point the R1S temporarily pauses EHA. As soon as you get into the new lane, EHA picks up where it left off which is a really nice feature and makes the overall experience much more pleasant.<\/p>\nWe stopped by Rivian\u2019s first \u201ccharging outpost\u201d near Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California on our return trip. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTo ensure you don\u2019t get complacent, EHA is constantly monitoring the driver to ensure they are paying attention\u00a0 their eyes on the road and a hand on the steering wheel when necessary. If it loses confidence in what it\u2019s seeing or moves out of its geofenced area of operation, it flashes panicked red warnings at the driver, asking them to take over. This happened 6 times on our 1,375 miles of driving, of which ~1,000 were freeway miles.<\/p>\n
Overall, EHA does a fantastic job of doing most of the driving on freeways with the exception of lane changes and freeway interchanges. It has a full suite of sensors and Rivian has stated that they are targeting the end of 2026 for the release of their own fully autonomous driving solution for its vehicles. Time will tell whether they will need additional hardware or sensor upgrades to make that happen.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Exterior<\/span><\/h3>\nBeauty is in the eye of the beholder and while that is true, the Rivian just looks like a streamlined high-end SUV on the outside. Its rounded corners, the boxy shape, wrapped in tasteful, adventurous colors that call you out into nature when your eyes land on it. Up front, a playfully designed set of headlights accents a wide light bar that have become a key design feature of Rivian\u2019s\u00a0brand.<\/p>\nCamp for the night just outside Williams, Arizona. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThey managed to pack all of that utility into a footprint that while still a large vehicle, the R1S still feels like it fits in urban environments. Many trucks and SUVs are maximizing the size of the vehicle just to have a larger presence on the road with EVs.<\/p>\n
Rivian did a fantastic job of keeping the frontal area to a minimum, optimizing the R1S for aerodynamics and interior cargo space at the same time. The benefit of the hard work they put into optimizing engineering and design is immediately apparent as Rivian has managed to squeeze out a significant amount of range for each of its various pack sizes.<\/p>\nImage credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHoppping outside the Rivian R1S, you get to see the air suspension in action. Drivers are able to choose from four different height settings depending on how they want to tackle the day\u2019s adventures. Keeping the vehicle low optimizes for aerodynamics and easy entry. That can be stepped all the way on up to low, medium, and high suspension settings depending on what you\u2019re doing. For our steep driveway and for off roading, I kept it in high and had no issues with any parts of the vehicle scraping.<\/p>\n
Rivian offers a number of different wheel and tire combinations with the popular addition of all terrain tires. This maximizes traction off-road but comes a with a trade-off in the form of reduced range.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Infotainment<\/span><\/h3>\nThe Rivian R1S Gen 2 carries forward the dual display arrangement from the first generation R1 vehicles. It\u2019s nice to have a central display behind the steering wheel again and it consistently provided helpful data around speed, navigation, and Rivian\u2019s ADAS system.<\/p>\n
Moving to the center display. It\u2019s well molded into the center, with the lower wooden trim tucking around the display, protecting it from any erroneous bumps on the corner or bottom edge. At the center of the display it\u2019s floating which I\u2019m sure lends to better cooling of the high power high usage display with a nice wooden trim flanking the display up top.<\/p>\n
The aesthetics of the displays and surrounds are beautiful. The graphics have a very polished, premium, and crisp feel with animated vehicles that make you want to play. These fun little touches give the user interface a whimsical feel that fits right in with Rivian\u2019s ethos. They are playful, but polished. They take their vehicles and technology seriously, but know when it\u2019s time to just cut loose and have a good time out in nature.<\/p>\nImage credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe R1S feels purpose built to support any sport, trail, or activity that you might imagine when wandering the halls of REI and helps make them a reality. It\u2019s not instantly going to turn you into John Muir or let you do a through hike of the Pacific Crest Trail but it will do its best to get you to the trailhead.<\/p>\n
When it come time to use the display, the operating system feels like a polished Android system. It\u2019s not as intuitive as Apple\u2019s iOS devices, but it comes close enough that most drivers will feel comfortable with it. Icons are easy to read and after a few minutes of feeling your way through the overall layout of the system, it\u2019s easy to find the climate control or navigation display with little more than a glance to confirm the button\u2019s location.<\/p>\n
We did notice occasional latency when navigating between some of the different screens on the display but this was addressed in an over the air software update since our testing.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Charging<\/span><\/h3>\nRivian\u2019s new vehicles ship with a CCS1 fast charging port which thrusts owners into the wild west of fast charging. With a wide array of fast charging networks and varying degrees of reliability and use, Rivian took it upon themselves to create a ranking system for public fast chargers. It takes a number of factors into account and Rivian\u2019s navigation uses this ranking system to select chargers for your journey.<\/p>\nFast charging at Chargepoint. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nUnfortunately, even with Rivian\u2019s software helping to streamline public fast charging for longer journeys, the results still leave a bit to be desired. The first fast charger Rivian\u2019s navigation chose for me was a Tesla Supercharger.<\/p>\n
Rivian\u2019s charging port on the R1S is on the front driver\u2019s side so I needed an extra stall to park in to charge. That wasn\u2019t an option so after a few minutes of waiting, I moved on and eventually found a Chargepoint station a few miles down the road with a cable designed to be used with a range of EVs.<\/p>\nFast charging at the Rivian Adventure Network station in Sedona, Arizona. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAs Rivian continues to build out their Rivian Adventure Network\u00a0the situation will improve, but the public fast charging landscape seems likely to continue to be a challenge until charging network operators and vehicle builders flip the switch to NACS. Until then, the lack of a robust public DC fast charging networks continues to be a barrier to adoption for any EV using the CCS1 standard, whether they have an adapter or not.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Overall<\/span><\/h3>\nRivian has built the R1S SUV to be an extremely capable, flexible vehicle that is equally comfortable running the kids to school or picking up a full load of youngins from soccer practice as it is out on the trails. It can be kitted out with some of the most capable off-road tires transforming it into a serious off-roading in rock crawling vehicle.<\/p>\nImage credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe interior space is thoughtfully designed with finishes that are durable yet classy for when it\u2019s time to polish out the scuff marks and wipe the dust off the interior for a nice night out on the town.<\/p>\n
As tested, the Rivian R1S tri-motor max pack hits the bank account especially hard at around $119,000 but you can get the R1S at a range of price points starting at $75,900. There are also a range of options to make it easy for new owners to customize their vehicle to their hearts content.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a budget vehicle, and that\u2019s okay because Rivian is working to bring more affordable options to the market as we speak. The Rivian R2 and R3 were teased at a launch event a few months ago with the R2 expected to launch in 2026.<\/p>\nCharging under an awning at Rivian\u2019s Joshua Tree Charging Outpost. Image credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nEverybody has a different vision for what they want their off-roading, outdoor, mountain biking, hiking, exploring, camping experience to look like when they head out into the outdoors. After running it through the wringer on our own adventures, we found the Rivian R1S to be extremely capable in a wide range of areas that make it a fantastic platform for whatever adventures you want it to take you to.<\/p>\n
The Rivian R1S has been well equipped with thoughtful accessories like electrochromatic glass roof (optional) and a built-in air compressor (optional) that makes it easy to air up tires after a long day on the trails or fill up some basketballs before practice. Rivian\u2019s mastery of software lets the driver customize the vehicle ride height, power outlets, camp mode in just about anything else you can imagine for exactly their needs.<\/p>\nImage credit: Kyle Field, CleanTechnica<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAll told, the Rivian R1S is the ultimate Swiss army knife for modern urban adventures. It can take you over the river and through the woods or through the river and over the woods to Grandma\u2019s house depending on how you\u2019re feeling that day. And we love it for that.<\/p>\n
For more information about the Rivian R1S in any of its variants, head over to their website.<\/p>\n
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