So far, the many Rivian R1T reviews we’ve seen show the electric pickup to be extremely versatile and capable.
It excels off-road thanks to its quad-motor electric powertrain, which employs one electric motor for each wheel. This translates into an intelligent all-wheel-drive system with torque vectoring, dubbed “the Holy Grail of AWD systems” by Engineering Explained.
We’ve already seen the R1T tackle difficult off-road trails, including Moab’s Hells Gate, snow, and deep water, but we hadn’t seen a Rivian drive through a lake until now.
Yes, you read that correctly: an R1T owner decided to launch his boat into Bear Lake in Idaho in an unusual manner. The lake is a very popular destination for boat enthusiasts, with very nice sand, fresh water, and a very gradual beach, which means that launching a boat in summer can require several hours of waiting in line at the few boat marinas available.
To avoid the wait, the owner of this Rivian R1T chose to launch his boat from the beach. People who are brave enough to try this usually use highly modified vehicles or, more commonly, tractors. Most people would not consider doing it in a factory-spec truck—except this guy. While the video is pretty self-explanatory and very cool, here are some interesting details shared by the R1T owner in the description on Youtube.
He chose Bear Lake Beach for this because it has hard sand and is not muddy. His 2004 Malibu 23 LSV requires approximately 36 inches (914 mm) of water to float off the trailer. With the boat weighing approximately 4,000 pounds (1,814 kilogrammes) and the trailer weighing approximately 1,500 pounds (680 kg), the Rivian was pushing or pulling approximately 6,000 pounds (2,721 kg).
The owner now prepares the Rivian for the adventure by disconnecting the trailer lights so that the R1T does not become confused and enter Towing Mode, and by setting the mode to Off Road Deep Sand.
Everything went well, as seen in the video, and the R1T owner said he did it “three or four times over the course of a few days.”
He had to first back up the boat until the 20-inch all-terrain tyres were barely submerged. He didn’t, however, get close to the maximum fording height of 43 inches (1,092 mm), which is marked at the top of the black trim around the wheel wells. The owner claims that after that point, the R1T will begin to float rather than sink.
According to the man, who has two more Rivian vehicles on order, launching a boat like that is a first for a Rivian.
To pull off a stunt like this, you must first do your homework and then trust that water will not reach the battery, motors, or other critical electrical components. It’s clearly an unnecessary move, but it’s still really cool.