RIVIAN R1T TWO-YEAR OWNERSHIP REVIEW: WORK TRUCK WEAKNESSES

The owner loves it, but a hard life has exposed a few issues. Replacing components isn't easy, and some parts aren't for work duty.

The Rivian R1T is a brilliant electric truck. We already know that. For road trips, adventuring, daily driving and towing it's proven to be a fantastic, comfortable companion. But while it is the best lifestyle truck ever built, it's not really designed to be a heavy-duty work truck. YouTuber JerryRigEverything's 22,000-mile ownership review shows why.

One example is the infamous electronic tonneau cover, which Zack from JerryRigEverything needed to have replaced. His was the early design since his R1T was one of the first 2,000 trucks built, and we already knew that was a defective design. But he convinced Rivian to let him document the replacement process, and it shows how labor-intensive it is to swap out what seems to be a relatively delicate component.

The good news is that Rivian's new design should be better, but we hope the next Rivian truck won't require you to melt LockTite, remove the rear seats, and disassemble much of the bed in order to replace it.

Replacing the tonneau cover requires removing the rear seat and most of the bed hardware.

After all, true work trucks are a different breed from everyday pickups. While consumer trucks have to be able to haul heavy loads occasionally, work trucks do almost constantly. While consumers hope for a truck that never breaks, fleet and work truck buyers focus on how quickly and cheaply they can fix problems once they occur. Plus, they need to know that a truck can handle hundreds of thousands of miles of hauling without suffering from it.

The Rivian wasn't quite designed with that buyer in mind—for good reason, since EV trucks are still more expensive than internal combustion ones—but that means certain components aren't quite built for lifetime durability or quick in-the-field fixes.

For example, the Rivian's has a bad habit of trapping dirt and debris. Zack notes that when hauling gravel, manure, dirt and other gritty cargo things tend to get trapped between the bed and the lower aero cover. Removing one panel was enough to shake out a lot of the grime, but he still had to endure a manure shower in order to clean out the underside of the truck. One of the key advantages of hauling with a truck over an SUV is that you can quickly rinse out all of the grime, and the Rivian trapping dirt would quickly hurt its appeal to hardcore bed users. It didn't seem to be causing an issue where it was, but given how much dirt was trapped it can't be good to let it be.

Zack also had to get his windshield replaced and, like in many modern cars, the process for the Rivian involved removing sensors, removing trim and clearing away cowlings. It cost $1800 at the Rivian Service Center, which isn't unheard of for a modern vehicle, but hopefully, buyers don't have to use Rivian's own Service Centers every time. Companies like Safelite can recalibrate the sensors on modern Chevy and Ford trucks for a fraction of what dealers charge. I've reached out to Rivian to see if that's possible with an R1T, as well.

The video also shows a dent in the rear tailgate where it hit a trailer ball. The gate doesn't have enough clearance over the tow hitch to dodge a tall ball, and so it'll drop down right onto it. GMC and Chevy have a similar problem with their "Multi Pro" and "Multi-Flex" tailgates which have ruined plenty of tailgates. As with the Rivian, replacing a complex tailgate assembly is expensive, which is why you don't see a lot of complicated or low-hanging tailgates on work trucks.

The mark from where the R1T's tailgate hit the ball hitch.

Finally, his charge door has an alignment issue and doesn't close flush. That's a core example of the sort of mechanical overcomplication that do-it-yourself types and fleet owners hate. I have long believed that electronically activated charge doors are a useless gimmick, and this shows why. A dual-arm mechanical hinge is never going to need to be recalibrated, and it's not going to fail. Introducing an extra electric motor into such a key area strikes me as a step backward.

It's an understandable one for Rivian's target audience. Zack is incredibly happy with his truck, and though he knows he paid more for an electric truck he's enjoyed the experience far too much to regret it. He doesn't regret trading in his Tacoma for an R1T, and he prefers it to all of the other electric trucks on the market. I agree with him. Not only is an R1T my favorite electric truck, but it's also the vehicle I'd buy if I had a blank check. But thoughts about damaging its famously pricey-to-replace body panels check my desire to take one wheeling.

This is why I'd love to see a true work truck variant of the R1T. Either for this generation or the next one, the company could offer a de-contented truck with no power charge door, less sound and aero insulation under the bed, a rubberized tailgate or one that won't open when a tall hitch is detected and a simplified bed with no power tonneu cover.

Surely the company's experience producing Electric Delivery Vans (EDVs) for Amazon has given it more ideas for commercial-grade trucks, and that's crucial. Because if we want electric trucks to replace ICE trucks, we have to make them just as easy to fix, hard-working and durable.

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