At the end of each year, the well-known American automobile Hybrid Trend will select many participating models and formulate six assessment criteria for them - design, efficiency, performance, forward-looking functional characteristics, safety and cost performance, which are used to summarize and review the annual model.
Just yesterday, the pure electric pickup truck Rivian R1T beat the pickup trucks of Ford, GM, Hyundai and other brands to win the "2022 Truck of the Year" Gold Caliper Award.
So, what makes Rivian's pickup so special?
MotorTrend commented: "By rethinking how pickups are built, how they move forward, how they drive, how they use its space, how we interact with it, and how we expand its target demographic, Rivian has forced the industry and the market to reassess expectations. However, R1T is more than just an intelligent application; By the traditional definition, it's at its core a good truck. ”
I think motorTrend's ability to choose a start-up as the car of the year also illustrates the trend of electrification.
In terms of size, the R1T is a medium-sized pickup truck with a length/width/height of 5514mm/2078mm/2007mm, between medium-sized pickups such as The Chevrolet Colorado and traditional large pickups such as the Ford F-150.
The Rivian R1T's shape and compact body mimic the body of a family casual pickup truck such as the Honda Ridgeline and Hyundai Santa Cruz, and weighs about 3,240KG. According to Rivian officials, it can tow about 5 tons of cargo.
With motorTrend's test drive experience, the pickup can climb rocks like a Jeep Gladiator, has a separate off-road drive mode with a shaft ratio of 12.6:1 and a steering ratio of 15.2:1; a minimum ground clearance of 200mm, allowing the driver to raise the suspension (which can be turned up to 360mm, which is 80mm higher than the Chassis of the Jeep Gladiator Rubicon), and reduces the throttle sensitivity to varying degrees. This allows the R1T to cross tough terrain both smoothly on the road and off-road. At the same time, the R1T also has a built-in air compressor, so it can deflate the tires for off-road driving, and then it can easily inflate the tires for road travel, and has an explosive force that no other pickup truck has ever had.
In the powertrain and suspension settings, the R1T is equipped with four motors, a four-wheel drive system, a height-adjustable air suspension, and an inter-hydraulic spring system that can be used for shock absorption and roll suppression control. Like many electric cars, it starts very fast – the two motors on the front axle provide 415 hp and 560 Nm of torque, while the two motors on the rear axle provide 420 hp and 671 Nm of torque, with a 3.0 second acceleration of 100 km/h.
The R1T is equipped with an electric motor on every wheel, which means it has extraordinary flexibility on the road/off-road.
By powering each wheel independently, the Rivian R1T provides real-time torque vectoring control that delivers power precisely to each wheel without causing clutch combinations to be too late or requiring the intervention of a hydraulically coupled limited-slip differential. Rivian's electric pickups take full advantage of this, offering various types of driving modes, proving the programmability and adaptability of the platform.
Because the Rivian's powertrain is arranged like a skateboard while maintaining the traditional pickup shape, this leaves a lot of luggage space under the hood.
The body provides a lockable electric trunk cover.
There is also a passage behind the rear seats and between the body that runs through the entire width of the car – Rivian calls it the Gear Tunnel.
However, MotorTrend also found some shortcomings in the actual experience, such as the lack of small storage space in the cockpit, but overall MotorTrend still gave the R1T cab praise, especially the comfortable front seats and wide visibility. But the rear seat isn't particularly comfortable for tall people — while there's plenty of legroom, the backrest angle is too vertical and the cushions are too stiff to ride.
Then there's the Tesla-like model of Rivian — minimizing physical buttons, switching to touchscreen menus and multi-function buttons on the steering wheel, and even the air conditioning outlets have to be adjusted via the screen. This feature looks cool, but in practice, you'll find that it's a big pain point: Who would want to click on the interface in order to adjust an air outlet?
At present, Rivian has only one plant in Illinois, with an annual production capacity of about 150,000 units, and plans to upgrade to 200,000 units. Rivian will invest about $5 billion to build a second plant in Texas, with the goal of officially starting production in the second quarter of 2023. In addition, Rivian plans to set up factories in the UK and China. Regarding access to the Chinese market, Scaringe, founder of Rivian, said, "We can't really build a car company without considering China and Europe as important long-term markets." ”