Rivian’s launch editions quickly sold out

The US startup Rivian has announced that the ‘Launch Edition’ of its two models R1T and R1S have already sold out. Orders have also come in for the following top model with the 180 kWh battery.

Rivian announced the opening of the configurator for pre-orderers on 16 November. Since 23 November, non-orderers have also been able to assemble and order the Rivian BEV R1T and R1S. By the time the free sale was possible, the ‘Launch Edition’ of both models was already sold out.

“Thank you to our community of preorder holders for all the support and excitement — Launch Edition reservations are now full,” Rivian posted on Twitter on 21 November. “Early configurator access continues for preorder holders to build our Adventure and Explore packages. Public configurator access begins 11/23 at 9AM PST”.

The ‘Launch Edition’ (starting at $75,000 for the R1T and $77,500 for the R1S) is only a special edition, technically the model is equivalent to the version with the medium battery (135 kWh for 300 miles/481 kilometres). From January 2022 this model will also be available as an ‘Adventure’ for $75,000, the basic equipment (from 67,500 dollars) is called ‘Explore’.

For the R1T, the 400-mile (644 kilometres) battery with 180 kWh will be available in January 2022. The R1S will initially only be available with the 300-mile battery, but with a five or seven-seater interior.

Owing to posts from users at Rivian Owners Forum, more has been revealed about the orders after the Launch Edition than the manufacturer themselves communicate. Over 200 customers have published details of their orders. According to these posts, 62.5 per cent of the orders are for the R1T pickup, so 37.5 per cent are for the R1S electric SUV. 33 customers are waiting at the R1T for the 400-mile battery announced for 2022, 174 customers have ordered the 300-mile battery. The vast majority (173 to 35 users) have opted for the more expensive Adventure equipment, only a small proportion have ordered the Explore pack.

Of the R1S customers, only ten have chosen the five-seat interior, while 70 have chosen the seven-seat option. The ‘Offroad-Upgrade’ is also very popular with 195 orders. Keeping in mind that all of this data is only a small sample among fans of the brand and not representative data from retail trade.

According to the forum posts, around a quarter of users switched from a Tesla to the Rivian. 155 users, however, said that they did not already own a Tesla.

teslarati.com, electrek.co, rivianownersforum.com, google.com (order table)