Big Bear Lake in CA really needs a fast charger.
I agree 100%. For an adventure brand, charging at remote locations is JOB #1. For instance, I recently drove 2.5 hours from San Diego (probably 2 hours from Los Angeles) to a local ski hill, where 4 wheel drive is a must. But there is ZERO high speed (or low speed for that matter) charging infrastructure there. You simply can't drive there in an EV of any kind unless you have a house there with an EV charger.At this point in time there is Tesla and everyone else. Rivian had better understand the reason for this is in no small measure Tesla's charging network.
While Tesla does have some chargers near adventure locations, even they are challenged here. Tesla's locations are in urban areas or along long distance corridors for the most part.Rivian would, IMO, be well advised to enter into negotiations with Tesla. But they have already apparently settled on the CCS connector. I suppose it is not too late to add a Telsa connector or come up with a Tesla to CCS adapter (there is no CCS to Tesla adapter AFAIK so the two standards may be incompatible but the European SC's now, as I understand it, have Tesla and CCS connectors).
Rivian's longer range ameliorates this some what. Let's suppose your ski trip took you to Big Bear. There may be no fast chargers at Big Bear, perhaps, but there is a Tesla Charger (with 16 stalls) at Cabazon which is only 61 mi from Big Bear. If the Rivians really deliver 400 mi you could top up at Cabazon and have 400 - 122 = 278 miles of range for running around at Big Bear (plus, I assume, the Rivians will have some sort of wall charging and/or NEMA receptacle charging options - even 2 mph can give you something worth having over night or while skiing all day.While Tesla does have some chargers near adventure locations, even they are challenged here. Tesla's locations are in urban areas or along long distance corridors for the most part.
That’s the number one concern for third party chargers. Maintenance. It took Tesla a little while to realize this themselves. The early V1 chargers were prone to failure and Tesla had to scramble to help drivers because there were so few high speed chargers back then. But Tesla took the charging network seriously and absolutely stands behind them, dispatching repair crews at the first hint of trouble. In one infamous event, there was an area wide power outage that affected the Harris Ranch Supercharger when it was the only central California link. So Tesla rented out several flatbed trailers and ferried cars to and from Harris Ranch to the next Supercharger. That’s taking the charging network seriously.I've been looking into this a bit further and was pleasantly surprised when I tried ABRP on the long run I do more than any other. It found 1 Electrify America station with 4 x 350 and 11 x 150 kW stalls and a couple of 50 kW ChargePoint and EvGO stations all right on the route so the trip would be feasible today were the vehicle available. Long charge times (1.5 hr) would be required at the lower power stations but we can hope that Electrify America will move along in its plans and/or that EvGO's reputation will improve.
So now I'll shift my concerns to service. Will there be Rangers?
Update Edit: One of the stations is operated by BMW through ChargePoint and has multiple stalls. A recently as a month or so back ALL of them are reported as broken. Guess I'll go back to my original worry.
If you are talking about trucks we don't know what the Tesla truck will look like. I am looking at both Tesla and Rivian for a new truck and at the Tesla truck reveal unless the Tesla totally lays an egg I will go with Tesla. I do agree the Tesla charging system is a huge selling pointAm very fond of both my F150 and my Tesla Model S.Will buy an electric PU when I replace the Ford. Don’t like the look of the Tesla but Tesla charging is a big plus. I hope Rivian can make a deal with Tesla on charging.