Inside Rivian’s Rebelle Rally Win

The first EV to win the longest off-road rally in the US

Por Rivian

27 de October de 2023

Rivian engineers Lilly Macaruso and Alex Anderson, team #187 Limestone Legends, made history at the Rebelle Rally when they drove an R1T across the finish line on Friday — the first fully-electric vehicle ever to win the competition.

In total, four teams driving R1Ts crossed the finish line at the rally, all placing in the top half of the final Rally Rankings. An independent owner team, #139 Headings United, placed 11th, and the two rookie teams from Rivian, #196 Evergreen Edge and #186 Red Canyon Risers, ranked 20th and 30th respectively.

Our competition vehicles

Rivian also won the Bone Stock Award this year, with the highest-scoring stock vehicle in the competition. As totally unmodified vehicles, these Quad-Motor R1Ts entered with the same capability and versatility that they come with from the factory.

“All the vehicles we competed in this year are the same as the vehicles you would have in your driveway.”

The Quad-Motor R1T is at home in many types of terrain thanks to its software-determined Drive Modes that include five distinct off-road modes. As the longest off-road rally course in the country at over 1,500 miles, Rebelle offers the chance to put them all to the test.

“Training and off-roading over the last months curbed my range anxiety. Learning the unique pedal control of the truck taught me how to efficiently and confidently drive the vehicle across different terrain.”

Rachel Zech Evergreen Edge

Driving an all-electric vehicle for eight days across desert, forest and rock was a new experience for Rivian's rookie teams. It meant getting to know the vehicle more intimately than ever before, to have the confidence it takes to be out there with nothing more than a map and compass.

At Rebelle, all the technology we've built into the R1T distills down to the purest driving experience there is — trusting your machine (not to mention your navigator) to get you where you need to go.

“Our various Drive Modes have gotten us out of many sticky situations.”

Learnings from the Rally

Ever since we first entered the rally with a pre-production R1T in 2020, Rebelle has been an important learning opportunity for Rivian. We get crucial feedback from our competitors and support teams that helps improve the driving experience for all Rivian owners.

“One of the things that has really been fantastic is that we have a customer team this year. This is an amazing chance for our teams to listen and to make our vehicles better and better.”

Claire McDonough Rivian Chief Financial Officer

“During our trainings we got to test out a lot of the new Drive Modes features before they went out to customers. It has been amazing to be part of informing that.”

We've learned there's no substitute for real-world experience. Three years ago at Rebelle, when deep sand conditions made for slow going at certain points in the course, our team's experience directly informed our development of Soft Sand mode. This year, we again integrated our rally teams into ongoing vehicle development.

In the lead-up to the rally, for almost a year, these teams have been testing our newly redesigned Drive Modes interface. The new Gauge View provides drivers with the readouts and vehicle information that proved most valuable. We also found that Soft Sand mode needed to be used in the "high" ride height to allow for higher clearance and greater speed. Throughout the year, our HMI and UI teams worked closely with our Rebelle teams to inform the accessibility and usability of the new interface.

Versatility — and the ability to get better over time through over-the-air software updates — is the R1T's superpower. We take full advantage of it by continuously learning from our driver community.

“Having access to four R1T teams this year is amazing. Their experience and learnings doing serious off-roading will enable us to have that knowledge packaged back into our vehicles.”

“Our teams inspire me. It’s not easy to sign up for something like this. It takes a lot of courage. I admire their vulnerability and their willingness to push. I’m so proud of them.”

The R1T continues to make history thanks to the incredible work of so many people. Congratulations to our employee teams, our owner team, our support team and all of the amazing women that make this event a truly special experience.