A Rivian electrical ute has been noticed in Victoria, giving a uncommon glimpse into the favored American-built EV on Australian roads.
Two images of the white ute have been taken and shared by EV fanatic Ben J on the Electrical Car for Australia Fb group, displaying the parked automobile with its door opened. The sighting was in a suburb close to Geelong.
The noticed automobile was in a left-hand-drive configuration and was parked pretty near the kerb with its driver-side door opened.
From the entrance, the Rivian R1T had its mild bar and headlights on on the time which clearly units it other than some other utes at the moment on the market in Australia.
There was additionally a photograph of the rear with its rear tail mild bar illuminated beneath which Rivian branding could be noticed.
On the again of this publish, one other electrical automobile fan additionally noticed the automobile in Geelong: “Was charging tonight in Geelong”. One other fan of the Rivian stated: “Would purchase a kind of”.
Some even in contrast it to Tesla’s Cybertruck which has been on a roadshow in Australia over the past couple of months: “This seems rather a lot higher than the CT, not that its a tough feat”.
That is fairly a uncommon sight as earlier Rivian automobiles in Australia had been for mining functions as purchased by a partnership between Mining Electrical Car Firm (MEVCO) and Rivian Automotive.
The automobile noticed close to Geelong is probably going a check automobile that has been purchased in by producers for benchmark testing however that’s but to be confirmed.
In its native market of the US, the Rivian R1T has a beginning value of $US71,700 and is round $US10,000 greater than the F150 Lightning truck.
The R1T went on sale within the US almost 4 years in the past in November 2020. At the moment it was introduced with a “Launch Version” in addition to the Journey Bundle and Discover Bundle which have been delivered from 2022 onwards.
Since then, a number of iterations of the Rivian R1T have been launched with the newest model being provided in dual-motor, tri-motor and quad-motor configurations.
It’s additionally obtainable in three variants with the bottom “Journey” variant. It’s adopted by the Premium and top-spec Ascend variant.
On prime of that for the 2025 model, Rivian has additionally shifted its battery chemistry to Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) serving to it cut back prices because the model plans to roll out a number of extra inexpensive fashions within the coming years.
Rivian has additionally created a web site for the UK which options these upcoming inexpensive fashions, hinting at right-hand-drive manufacturing down the monitor.
Whereas we watch for updates from the corporate on right-hand-drive Rivians, it’s nonetheless good to see a ground-up electrical ute on Australian roads.
Riz is the founding father of carloop based mostly in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV knowledge, perception stories and tendencies. He’s a mechanical engineer who spent the primary 7 years of his profession constructing transport infrastructure earlier than beginning carloop. He has a ardour for automobiles, notably EVs and needs to assist cut back transport emissions in Australia. He at the moment drives a crimson Tesla Mannequin 3.