Rivian 2021 Electric SUV | Hacker News Reader

Rivian 2021 Electric SUV

motortrend.com

25 pointsskolos28 comments

> Like Tesla, Rivian will collect data from its customers' cars and push over-the-air software updates based on what it learns.

I still don’t like this trend towards every product we own collecting data on us.

That's why I'm looking forward to the Bollinger Motors e-truck. It's as stone-simple as it can be, while still hauling around a mindboggling pile of angry pixies.

I hadn't heard of them yet. The front of the chassis isn't my favourite, but that thing looks surprisingly great.

If it's that economical, can take a beating haul a lot of anything it will be amazing.

Would definitely interest me if I moved out of the city.

(Though I had to chuckle a little because the bulk of the upper body frame/rollbars look like something my dad half-assedly would put together on a weekend—only at first look, mind! https://www.bollingermotors.com/#image-gallery-64)

Haha, that kind of looks like an e-hummer. I like it.

Now that looks awesome.. Thanks, hadn't heard of them.

Totally agreed - I hope Bollinger makes it to production, because they are really nailing the simple/functional/practical ethos.

I keep coming back to Rick of Rick and Morty talking to the toaster. You're a toaster you make toast.

> I keep coming back to Rick of Rick and Morty talking to the toaster. You're a toaster you make toast.

"Keep Summer safe."

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9ajvrejv90

This piece is dated November 2018, please update title with a year tag "(2018)".

Fully Charged episode on it:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMfxJEfb4lw

Note: no car action in the video, it’s a motor show interview.

No car action anywhere that I can find.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DQtgw0kZRZI https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QMfxJEfb4lw

These are both marketing videos. I mean a person actually driving one.

As someone working in automotive-tech, this company is still vaporware in my mind. I hope it is a success as I am a fan of EV's but until I see a single Rivian doing anything I'd be very skeptical of a 2021 release date.

Would also probably be willing to bet more than 100k Rivian vehicles never get produced.

Agreed. Unless GM swoops in and rebrands it as the Cadillac SUV.

My bad. It was Ford that just swooped in!

Seeing a lot of "Model X competitor" announcements from companies just 2 weeks after Tesla announces a massive drop in Model S & X sales. There used to be a good sized market for $90K electric SUV's when there was no decent competition, but when there are high quality $40K electric SUV's available from Kia and coming from Tesla, the "model X competitor" market is going to be a bloodbath for a bunch of companies.

The $90K+ SUV market in the US is huge. Tons of market share to take from many brands.

Those headlights.... But why???

Everything else looks great BTW.

To differentiate themselves I think. I didn't like them at first either but they grew on me.

Car design is tricky - you have to design for peoples tastes 5+ years in the future.

(I know nothing about car design)

Standing out for the sake of standing out is the biggest problem with the design of electric cars.

I don't see why they have to be made "unusual" or atypical looking just because it doesn't have a gas-fuelled engine.

I think Neil Young was on a similar page (okay, maybe not full electric but still):

http://www.lincvolt.com/

Image: https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fd3lp4xedbqa...

In some cases it's because the "unusual" design is actually more aerodynamic, so they are taking advantage of the "this is totally new and different" thing to finally push those changes out and make them acceptable. Like the wheel covers on the Honda EVs. They would actually make the ICE cars more efficient too, but people just get turned off by the look.

Tesla went in the opposite direction, the anti-Prius design. Maybe it was intentional, but when I see a Tesla on the road (in the Midwest, not super common like in California), I have to really look at it while I ask myself "is that a Tesla?" because from some angles it could be a Jaguar, a BMW, an Audi, any generic luxury car. Nothing about it screams "look at me!", it seems designed to blend in.

There's nothing wrong with that approach, just presenting you with a counter-point. One of the most successful EVs on the market is intentionally designed to stand out in a crowd (the Prius) while another is (I think intentionally) designed to not stand out.

It comes and goes but every so often you get a generation of cars looking kinda weird. The logic is that it's better to inspire a reaction, postive or negative rather than being beige.

I like it personally. It has a cute citygoer vibe

So far their PR has been exceptionally successful. Hopefully they bring their vehicles to market and they warrant some of the hype that is growing.

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