The first non-employee Rivian R1S deliveries reportedly took place earlier this week. The hotly anticipated SUV has been in production for several months now, with Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe taking delivery of his way back in December. However, until now only Rivian employees had taken delivery of the vehicle.
The above R1S was delivered to Rivian Forum member ‘Fletch’, who is based in Pennsylvania. They wrote the following about their first day in the R1S:
“Having never driven an EV before this afternoon, I’d describe it this way: driving it is like being in a video game that got the physics wrong. The acceleration feels like it shouldn’t be possible (especially in such a big, heavy thing). I put about 100 miles on it after delivery today (delivered with 11 miles on the odometer), on back roads and highways and everything in between.”
This time last year Rivian said R1S customer deliveries would begin in March-April 2022. However, ongoing supply chain issues have pushed things back until now.
The Rivian R1S currently starts at $78,000. This means the base version will just about meet the new threshold for the $7,500 tax credit, which will come into effect in January. A larger battery increases estimated range from 260 to 320 miles and can be equipped on the R1S for $6,000. Furthermore, a quad-motor AWD system can be had over the standard dual-motor setup for a further $8,000. If you equip several options packs, special paint, and 22″ alloys it’s easy to configure an R1S to north of $100,000. The below example, for instance, came in at $108,955.
Rivian delivered 5,694 vehicles in the first half of 2022. The automaker drastically ramped up production in the first few months of the year and claims it is still on track to deliver 25,000 vehicles in 2022. Both the R1T and R1S have tens of thousands of reservations, and if you order either today you’ll have to wait until late 2023 for delivery.