Postcard from South America

Name: Postcard from South America
Uploaded: 2019-11-15T20:43:12Z
Description: An update from an unforgettable journey

An update from an unforgettable journey

By Rivian

November 15^th, 2019

As beautiful as it may be, our time in South America isn’t designed to be a leisurely stroll. Spanning the course of months, our regimen consists of driving hundreds of miles every day across mixed terrain – from steep mountain inclines that last hours to washboard dirt roads that seemingly have no end. Along the way, these long-distance endurance drives are interrupted with hard bursts off-road. It’s the elite athlete’s equivalent of mixing marathon training with high-intensity interval sprints, without any rest in between.

During this journey, our teams are cycling in and out, giving systems, controls and powertrain engineers the ability to evaluate the vehicles in their natural environment. In the photos below, we see Ana S., Rivian Powertrain Integration Engineer, testing some of her latest work in the dunes.

Here, Ana was focused on torque transfer and power control. Judging by her smile, and how many laps she was taking, the R1T is handling just fine.

Our upper body is hard-mounted to our skateboard platform and delivers extremely high torsional rigidity. This high rigidity ensures wheel movements occur through the suspension and not through the body flexing. Combined with our hydraulically interconnected suspension system, air suspension and active damping, our vehicles deliver very precise control across any surface and in any environment. In this case, long days off-road.

South America’s mountain ranges offer the perfect opportunity to demonstrate quad-motor torque vectoring. To gain the most traction for a given driving scenario, such as exiting a corner at full throttle, the brain of the R1T is constantly optimizing power distribution. This ability to instantly – and independently – apply torque at each of the four corners, combined with the R1T’s chassis control systems and low center of mass, results in a vehicle that’s planted to the ground, even on loose-gravel hard turns like these.

Long distances with constant changes in temperature and terrain subject our pack to a daily routine of extremes. Our high-strength underbody shield provides the protection needed for these environments. Inside, data from our battery management system is streamed back to our engineers, supporting the refinement of our control algorithms both for driving and charging.

The R1T tackles steep grade acceleration no matter the terrain. Unlike gas-powered engines, with heavy downshifts and delayed reaction time, the R1T delivers straight-surge uphill acceleration with immediate torque to all four wheels. At first, feeling instant thrust off-road might catch you by surprise. Don’t worry, you very quickly get used to it.

As the journey through South America continues, stay tuned for more updates along the way. Until next time...

VEHICLES ABOVE ARE FOR TESTING PURPOSES ONLY. INTERIORS, DOOR HANDLES, FINISH LINES, ETC. DO NOT REPRESENT PRODUCTION INTENT.

Some images shown may contain pre-production vehicles and vehicle specifications mentioned in this blog post may have changed. Please refer to our website or reach out to Customer Service for current vehicle information.