Tesla exploded the electric car market, becoming the clear leader in the industry with the mass-market Tesla Model 3, and eventually even having the #1 best selling model of any kind in the world with the Tesla Model Y. Recently, though, BYD sales have climbed much faster, and Tesla sales have actually declined. Perhaps it’s just a bump in the road for Tesla, but this is definitely the year of BYD. There are several other Chinese EV startups rising fast as well — from NIO to Xpeng to Zeekr. Does that mean the US is just going to be left in the dust? Maybe, but we’ve got some cavalry on the way. In particular, watch out for the rise of Rivian.
In the latest CleanTechnica Talk podcast, CleanTechnica’s Scott Cooney and Rob Simon discuss the great potential of Rivian, the quality of Rivian vehicles, the company’s coming mass-market (read: cheaper) models, and the opening Tesla is leaving for another young EV startup to climb that always daunting mass-adoption scaling graph. Enjoy the discussion!
First of all, full disclosure: I own a Gen 1 R1T, my VIN is sub 10K.
You’re right in that I don’t believe in CR’s methods (for almost anything, not just vehicles). Many of their reviews have left a bad taste in my mouth, and their methodology for testing EVs is sub-par.
Also, squeaks snd creeks don’t automatically mean that the vehicle itself is “unreliable”. Sure, it shouldn’t have them since its an expensive EV, but you can still drive it with most of those issues, it doesn’t inheritly mean your vehicle is going to break down if a panel squeaks.
That being said, transmission and battery issues are alarming, however not very widespread as if this were the case you’d hear a lot more about it via the media.
You also have to remember people are more likely to complain than say nothing is wrong - you can’t use forum posts to gauge reliability because of that. For example, I have not had any issues related to battery, transmission, or anything integral to driving. The only issue I have personally had was a speaker rattle, which was easily fixed. I haven’t posted anywhere that I have had no problems (until now). It goes both ways of course, just because I haven’t had problems doesn’t mean other people haven’t, but that’s kind of my point: forum posts mean nothing when it comes to gauging reliability.
Once again, I want to emphasize that I definitely have some bias here because I own one and have for about 3 years. It’s the best vehicle I’ve ever owned.