Simply 4 years after Rivian started promoting its R1T truck, 2025 marks the start of the R1T and R1S’ second technology. Contemplating they give the impression of being basically the identical on the skin, it may be exhausting to decipher what warrants a brand new technology. However beneath, it’s really fairly straightforward: all-new electrical structure, a brand new motor association, retuned suspension, and extra. Kicking off at $107,700, right here’s how all these revisions make the 2025 Rivian R1S Premium Tri-Motor a real frontrunner within the fashionable EV area.
The tri-motor association suits in between the bottom twin and top-level quad, and was my tester’s powertrain for an entire week. All collectively, output is rated at 805 horsepower and 1,105 pound-feet of torque, which is sufficient to hit 60 mph in simply 2.9 seconds. The only real battery out there is the model’s Max spec at 141.5 kWh, possessing a charging fee of 220 kW and vary of 371 to 405 miles relying on energy settings and driving habits. Throughout my week with it, I noticed 340 miles in an excellent cut up between freeway, off-road, and around-town driving.
However this isn’t the one important replace to the R1S’ EV structure.
“We clean-sheeted the entire electronics and harnesses within the car, and positioned controllers in zones the place we may cut back the general variety of wires,” Kyle Lobo, Director of Electrical Structure at Rivian defined in a latest interview. Lobo and his workforce laid them out in an east, west, and south orientation, the place they’re native to what they management, after which networked all of them collectively. Going from 17 ECUs to simply seven, the general system weight was diminished by 44 kilos and reduce out over 1.6 miles of harness. This additionally improves manufacturability; much less components and wiring to put in means quicker manufacturing time. Not solely that, however all ECUs are actually constructed in-house, rushing up manufacturing even additional and rising autonomy from exterior suppliers.
One other large change is software-resettable e-fuses which monitor present and voltage on each line. When one thing goes improper, Rivian relays this data to its service workforce and the proprietor. This additional bolsters general simplicity, and lays the groundwork for the corporate’s future R2 and R3 fashions.
In terms of a screen-heavy person interface, I’m normally a little bit of a Luddite; the extra bodily buttons the higher. Nonetheless, Rivian’s infotainment system was fairly refreshing and easy-to-use, with no lag shifting between screens and settings and nice response. Its 15.6-inch display’s decision adopted swimsuit, and whereas I believed I’d miss the familiarity of Apple CarPlay, the model’s in-house software program was a superb substitute. In addition to some lag whereas scrolling by means of a very giant Spotify playlist, it was all fairly intuitive. Going one additional, this was my first time using an app-based digital key to begin and cease the car, and Rivian’s software program made it a seamless and trouble-free transition.
Moreover, computerized emergency braking, lane departure warning, and adaptive cruise management are commonplace, and simply as seamless and clean of their operation as getting up to the mark with the remainder of the R1S’ tech. Computerized emergency braking got here in clutch on one event, within the rain and in response to a clueless Los Angeles driver—it hauled all 7000+ lbs right down to a cease in an assured method.
Total, the 2025 Rivian R1S possessed an on a regular basis SUV-like driving expertise. It didn’t really feel like a forward-thinking, futuristic idea of mobility, however fairly drove as if it have been a part of GMC or Lincoln’s conventional ICE lineups. Although, with one caveat: Its commonplace, re-tuned-for-2025 air suspension had a superb general trip high quality, and even felt agile in its extra performance-oriented setting.
Then, of all of the EVs I’ve pushed over time with one-pedal driving, the R1S was the simplest to grasp. Some techniques require a bit extra brain-to-throttle calibration than common, however I loved my tester’s three ranges of depth, and altered them ceaselessly relying on the temper or quantity of regeneration I used to be aiming for.
In addition to being marketed as a spacious, three-row full-size EV truck, the R1S can also be designed for off-the-pavement work, which I bought the possibility to check out up north of Los Angeles in a sequence of mountainside trails. With a 35.8-degree strategy, 29.6-degree breakover, and 34.4-degree departure angle, plus a powerful 15 inches of floor clearance, it shrugged off some difficult sections the place pitch and roll grew to become fairly extreme. One-pedal driving made the expertise all-the-more fulfilling, too, because it allowed for extremely exact throttle management.
Sporting Rivian’s All-Terrain package deal, my tester’s 20-inch Pirelli tires by no means misplaced their footing whereas ascending some correctly brutal ascents. I used to be glad to have such trail-ready treads as added insurance coverage towards any potential sidewall cuts over significantly rocky bits. Lastly, there weren’t any downsides by way of highway noise once I returned to paved tarmac, although Rivian says this package deal will cut back vary by 10-15 p.c.
In addition to an ever-so-slight software program glitch utilizing Spotify, I had a tough time discovering something annoying or missing within the 2025 Rivian R1S. I by no means drove any earlier iteration of the R1, nevertheless it’s cool to see that, in just some brief years, this smaller—but more and more bigger—identify in EVs has made one thing this good, and makes me all-the-more excited to see how the R2 and R3 shake out after they arrive.
Pictures by Peter Nelson / The Verge