If you want a spacious toolbox that runs entirely on electricity, you should definitely take a closer look at American Rivian!

American Rivian was founded in 2009 but has not yet started rolling here in Sweden. That's why I booked a test drive and photo shoot of their two models, R1T and R1S when I was in Florida earlier this year. The R1S is an SUV with room for seven but the test drive on it will come later. For now, let's focus on Rivian's first model, the R1T, which is a pickup truck. The Rivian R1T is actually the first fully electric pickup truck. Unless you count the Chevrolet S-10 Electric, which was admittedly the first fully electric pickup truck and came already in 1997. But the Chevrolet S-10 Electric was only built for one year until 1998 when it was cancelled. So it was not a big seller. Those of you who follow CarsCollection.se may have seen the article I published before this one with Tesla Cybertruck, also an American pickup completely on electricity. But with hindsight, they are very different and Rivian R1T can probably be seen more as a classic pickup than Cybertruck. Those of you who have followed me for a while may know that I have driven a number of pickups. Four Volkswagen Amaroks and a Mercedes X-Class to be exact. So I think I have a pretty good idea of what a pickup truck is like to live with. Now, admittedly, the Rivian R1T is slightly larger than the pickups I've owned but then again, the US where I got to test drive the Rivian R1T is larger than Sweden so I jokingly feel it cancels each other out. 

Rivian has also put a lot of focus on the R1T being an electric adventure pickup, the world's first electric adventure car. Something I can actually feel that Rivian has succeeded with. The R1T feels really robust but at the same time agile and very technological but in an easy-to-understand way. Buttons and controls are where you expect them to be and the infotainment system is easy to understand. However, there are no symbols on the buttons. For example, those on the steering wheel but on the other hand, it is clearly shown on the screen which button and how to press or roll it to make the setting you want to make. So I still find it easy to understand and simple.   

Being a pickup truck, it should be practical to load and the Rivian R1T certainly is. In addition to its large bed, there is also a fairly generous load space in front of the rear wheels but behind the rear door. Simply described, under the rear passengers' seat. You can actually fit quite a lot in there. A whole person can easily crawl the economy hole. I know because I have tried it myself. However, if you want to spend the night at your Rivian R1T when you are out on an adventure, they have built a special tent that you can attach to the bed and fold out. Very practical and probably super cosy to spend the night in. 

Entering a segment like pickup trucks and in a country like the US must be one of the most difficult things you can do as a car manufacturer. Rivian has been around for a while, but you should definitely not see their somewhat slow start as something negative. Other well-known car manufacturers, especially in the US, have been around for 100 years, Rivian for 15. Further proof that Rivian is really on its way is due to Volkswagen's investment of a whopping 50 billion in Rivian. So you probably have to give Rivian a few more years to really land and have a solid base. But what I have seen and experienced is really positive and I see no problems whatsoever for Rivian to grow incredibly large and build a well-established brand in this segment. 

But comparing the Rivian R1T to any of the pickups I've had is completely wrong. The Rivian R1T has a performance that can easily be compared to that of a super sports car less than ten years ago. This is commonplace for all electric car owners because horsepower and acceleration are cheap to produce in the case of electric cars. On the other hand, the maximum speed is far from that of sports cars. But as I wrote in my test of the Kia EV9 family car that I published not so long ago. The Kia EV9 manages a 0 to 100 km/h sprint in just 5 seconds. That's really crazy for a family car that seats seven people. The Rivian R1T is no worse, and this is a full-size pickup truck that is a work vehicle that can be driven off-road. If you choose the four-engine version, which was the one I tested, it has a whopping 847 horsepower. 0 to 100 km/h is achieved in 3.4 seconds. These are really quite bizarre figures for a full-size pick-up truck! Of course, I tried it out and it is really breathtaking to push the throttle to the bottom when it goes so fast! Especially when I find myself as a "tourist" in the US and playing with the law like this. Luckily there was no officer around to see what I was doing and of course I had chosen a lonely road with no other traffic and no people around. The top speed, however, is only 185 km/h. On a full charge you get 505 kilometres. 

So my opinion of the Rivian R1T is really great! This is a pickup I would definitely have chosen if it was available when I drove a pickup. Now, as some of you may know, I drive a Jeep Wrangler 4xe. A plug-in hybrid. Once it comes as a pure electric car, I will switch immediately!

Rivian R1T 

Base price: Price (US): From $67 500 (equivalent to 698 000 SEK) Engine: Two electric motors front, two electric motors rear, 847 horsepower, 1231 Newton metres

Transmission: Stepless automatic, four-wheel drive
Power: 847 horsepower, 1231 newton metres

Acceleration: 0-100 km/h in 3.4 seconds
Top speed: 185 km/h

Range: 505 km
Weight: 3 259 kg
Dimensions (length/width/height): 5514/1828/2078 mm