Rivian R2 | Hacker News Reader

Rivian R2

rivian.com

50 pointsmfiguiere33 comments

A lot here to be excited about:

- $45k price point makes it qualify for federal incentives, and competitive to the Model Y market.

- Using Normal IL plant to accelerate deliveries in early 2026. (Their plant in GA will likely not be up and running until mid-late 2026.)

- Native NACS charging port

- Practical sport utility

- Self-driving hardware; RJ mentioned their vision is hands-off driving on highways

- Single, dual, and tri-motor configurations! 0-60 in < 3s

- All trims have 300+ miles of range

- All seats -- even front -- lay totally flat

They also announced R3 and R3X, a neat crossover / rally car EV (the R3X is a performance version)! We knew R3 was coming but didn't know it would be revealed today!

The native NACS port is nice. I think after NACS fully opens up this year and dealers start shipping cars with the port we will see higher adoption rates for EV in the States. Someone needs to come out with a vehicle that is actually affordable for the masses before it really takes off though. $45k is a decent step in that direction at least. As long as it’s not like Tesla who basically lies about cheapest trim to make headlines and then makes it near impossible to get the cheapest trim.

Which is ironic, because today Tesla (and the other no-dealer brands) are the only ones where it is easy to order the base model; you just order it off the website like any other trim. OTOH trying to get a base model from a dealer is basically impossible.

But at one time you were right -- Tesla had a Model 3 base model that you had to phone to order. They don't anymore. But play stupid tricks, and people remember even once you stop doing them.

I was more referring to Tesla’s practice of announcing a cheap model at a pretty competitive price A (eg Model 3) and saying that it will be available at X day, but come to find out only the expensive trims are available on X day and competitive price A is only available months or years down the line from the original announced date

That's pretty standard practice for all brands, at least for EV's. Try buying GM's $35,000 Equinox EV, for example, or Ford's $40,000 Lightning.

Sucks that “other companies also do shady thing, Tesla is not special” is the response here. Definitely a good case for better consumer protections around advertisement

The MG 2 that was announced recently sounds promising wrt pricing for an actual mass market: £ 16,000 / 20,000 €.

As a former two-time Tesla owner, and current VW ID.4 owner, the R2 looks like a really good car. I wish it supported Apple Car Play, but it looks awesome enough that I might overcome that.

Rivian are also teasing an even more compact R3:

https://twitter.com/Rivian/status/1765826072099377392 https://twitter.com/Rivian/status/1765806281225646112

No CarPlay is very sad

I know it's so minor, but if I'm spending money on a new car; at this point Apple Car Play is a near-necessity for me.

Supposedly it's incoming, just had to work out licensing deals.

Really awesome to see that we have collectively decided to double down on huge, wasteful, & dangerous trucks and SUVs. I'm glad that they aren't even pretending that this is eco-friendly, the way most carmakers do.

I wonder how many BYD seagulls, or better yet, ebikes could be made with the electric pack on this honker.

Yes, I hope these monstrosities stay in the USA and don't cross the ocean. Something that obliterates everything it encounters, most of the time seats one person and doesn't really fit parking spaces doesn't belong to European cities.

Reserved! Ready to dump my 2018 Model 3. Have been wanting an SUV for a while and the Model Y just doesn't do it for me. Model X is a joke at the price point. And I can't go back to gas cars.

R2 still too big for me but the R3 is appealing. A really welcome Apple style "One More Thing" addition to the presentation.

(tho I'd hope to eventually see something smaller still)

Maybe it's some deep-seated Volvo 245 childhood conditioning, but I'm loving that form factor. I realize developing a new car model takes time, but 2026 is still a bummer. A lot can happen in 2 years.

Video of the R2 & R3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82IiXIKkRIA

Jump to R2: https://www.youtube.com/live/82IiXIKkRIA?t=759

Are the actual images of the vehicle not loading for anyone else?

I can see all the specs but not the car (truck?)

Same for me, some of the images load in slowly, but this is mostly a blank page for me.

Deliveries begin 2026. From $45,000.

Rivian Pausing New Georgia Factory, Offers New R2 and R3

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39633146

I really wish they would change up the front, those lights just look awful. Shame because I like it otherwise

I think the front lights are gorgeous.

Just like Lada Niva - perfect from the beginning!

In general fronts of EVs are ugly as hell

IMO Tesla (from major manufacturers) is the only one that makes good looking EVs

Fisker

Agree, imho you need at least a pretend grille so the "face" of the car doesn't look like a gimp.

https://www.skoda-auto.cz/modely/enyaq/enyaq

Gotta disagree, they look adorable. Love it.

No buttons - no thanks.

Beautiful inside and out. The charging port looks like the first thing to go if rear ended.

Had to go back and open HN comments to figure out what this was (apparently some kind of car), because the webpage is broken on my phone. State of the internet in 2024.

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