Hey, Rivian, Here’s How Your New RAD Division Can Improve Your Vehicles

New performance divisions are exciting. Regular cars and trucks are for regular people, but us weirdo enthusiast types demand more. This is why the aftermarket industry in the U.S. accounts for more than 1.5 percent of GDP (estimated at approximately $550 billion per annum). BMW started it all (sorta), then came AMG, Audi RS, Cadillac V, Lexus F, the short-lived Infiniti IPL, Jaguar R, Range Rover SVR, and on and on. Now Rivian is launching RAD, the Rivian Adventure Department. A great announcement in theory, but sort of an all-hat, no-cattle situation at the moment because there are no specifics whatsoever. Sure, Rivian released several permutations of, “RAD is an invitation to explore what our vehicles can do and how much fun you can have.” But I demand specifics! As someone who has put 44,059 miles on my own Gen1 Rivian 1 R1T Quad, here’s a list of what I’d like to see from RAD.

Quick note: We think Rivian offers the best consumer-facing software (the stuff you see and tap on the screen) in the business. Moreover, it’s made better constantly and consistently by over-the-air updates. Therefore, the following list is not focused on software, but rather hard, physical improvements to the metal, so to speak. Also, we’re talking only about the R1 platform. We haven’t had a go in the new R2. Yet.

Better Brakes on the R1 Quad

This one is a no-brainer. When you sell a 7,000-pound truck with 1,025 horsepower and 1,194 lb-ft of torque that can hit 60 miles per hour in 2.5 seconds, you better give it the very best brakes in the industry. Period. There’s no other option. The existing brakes on the Quad (and the 850 hp Tri-Motor) simply aren’t good enough. Rivian, call Chevrolet/Cadillac, they’ll tell you what’s up.

This is the end of our on-road RAD suggestions. The R1 platform’s combination of air springs, diagonally linked (and anti-roll-bar-free) hydraulic dampers, and low center of gravity already make it the best-handling truck, and among the best-handling SUVs, you can buy. Just think back on Gardner Nichols’ insane sub-11-minute run up Pikes Peak in a nearly stock R1T as proof, a run that set the production truck record. Off-road, however, we have many thoughts.

Winch!

Or at least winch compatible. Serious off-roading requires a winch. Sure, you can make the argument (as a Rivian engineer did) that an electric vehicle hooked up to a stuck vehicle functions like a winch. Electric motors are electric motors, was his point. But that’s nonsense. Real off-road recovery (often) requires a winch, and we’d love to see what a RAD winch could do. After all, a winch is just an electric motor with some cable wrapped around it, and Rivian’s pretty good at building motors. One more note: The totally awesome Ineos Grenadier can be optioned with a rear-mounted winch. Hint, hint.

Steel Bumpers

The week I got my Rivian R1T, I took the family off-roading, and within minutes I bashed the front skidplate on a rock. Totally my own fault for not realizing that each off-road mode has an individual height setting, and I’ve learned to love my truck’s “battle scar,” but driving over rocks means you’re going to bash stuff. Steel bumpers, both front and rear, are the solution. Lots of winch-ready steel bumpers exist for other vehicles. Moreover, while the current R1S and R1T offer great approach angles (about 35.5 degrees) and varying departure angles (34 degrees for the SUV, 30 degrees for the pickup), a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon sports 44 degrees up front and 37 degrees out back. Unless you opt for the 35-inch tires (Rivians ride on 34s), then the front becomes 47 degrees and 40 in the rear. Also, the Hummer EV’s approach angle is nearly 50 degrees. Steel bumpers would be a great way to play catch-up.

Rear Recovery Points (and Better Front Recovery Points)

As it stands now, if you want to hook up your Rivian to another vehicle from behind, you need to use a hitch link. This is a steel or aluminum rectangular block that slides into your tow-hitch receiver. We have both a Factor 55 and a Bunker Indust hitch link, and both work great. We’ve recovered several vehicles using them without ever missing a beat. But don’t take our word for it. If you haven’t seen the video of the R1T recovering a 38,000-pound snow-stuck 18-wheeler with a Factor 55 hitch link, kinetic rope, tree strap, and soft shackle, hit the Googles. Insane. However, it’s not good enough for a couple of reasons.

First, what if the R1 gets mired in deep mud (or whatever) and the hitch link isn’t installed? Annoying and messy, or more annoying and messier than it needs to be. Going with that, what if something happens that prevents you from accessing the hitch link? We store mine in the deep part of the R1T’s frunk. What if the frunk won’t open? What if you keep yours in the gear tunnel (that’s what Rivian calls the clever side storage compartment in the R1T) and the truck is lying on its side? The point is, Rivians should have built-in, exposed rear recovery points tied directly to the frame.

The forces involved with recovering a vehicle as heavy as the R1 (again, just about 3.5 tons) are massive. Picture a stuck R1 suctioned down into a mud pit and imagine the strength of the tug required to pull it free. Now imagine it’s all concentrated on a single point. A much better solution is to set up a bridle and pull from two. What’s a bridle? It’s simply one strap mounted to two points on the vehicle. Think of it as load distribution. If 15,000 pounds of yank are required to extract the truck, it’s better to split that force across two anchor points.

We’ve used the two front recovery points on our truck several times to set up a bridle when extracting other vehicles (we reversed them out of the situation). It’s simple math; two points are better than one. It sure would be nice to be able to do that from the rear. Also, in terms of location, a center pulling point isn’t always optional. Depending on the terrain, having a pulling point on both sides of the rear could be necessary. Having options is a good thing. Back to the two up front, we’re not fully sold on them. Sure, they look good and seem strong (Rivian’s never officially said, but a former employee said each is good to 8,500 pounds), and we’ve used them successfully. Still, we’d love to see two additional underbody points bolted right to the frame.

Aux Switches

Not having auxiliary switches is a weird oversite. We sort of get it; EVs are aerodynamically sensitive, and adding light bars, pod lights, winches, and bed covers (with internal lights) hurts range. We also understand that part of what makes Rivian so dang Rivian is that it tries to include a lot of the stuff people would add on. Who needs things like pods when in Camp mode you can activate the lights on the wing mirrors to illuminate a campsite? Why add aftermarket bed lights when the R1T comes with ’em standard? Besides, there’s a 110-volt plug in the back seat and one in the bed. Plug your fridge into one, and your water pump into the other. Done.

But that’s not how GAD (Gear Acquisition Disorder) works. We get to decide how much powered nonsense to permanently mount to our overlanding rig. Aux switches, yes, a RAD vehicle’s gotta have them.

Real Jacking Points!

The Rivian R1 platform’s single biggest design flaw is the four goofy jacking points. All four are found once you unplug four cheap-feeling and annoying-to-reattach plastic discs underneath the vehicle. But that’s not enough, as you need what’s called a jack puck to go between your Rivian and the jack. These jack pucks don’t come with the R1, but to be fair, they aren’t too expensive at about $20 each. However, they’re difficult to position and keep in place when you’re trying to change a tire on the trail with a bottle jack. In a garage with a floor jack on a flat floor? Not so bad. Out in the dirt? Total pain, and an unnecessary one. Even the magnetic ones that don’t require a third hand suck in the field. Future RAD off-road vehicles should come standard with four (or more—two in front and two in back would be nice) real jacking points.

A Real Max Pack

When I bought my Rivian back in May 2022, the Max battery pack wasn’t an option. Had it been, I would have shelled out the $10K because more battery is obviously better. Thank god it wasn’t yet an option because it turns out the Max pack doesn’t add much range in the real world. We’re talking only 20 to 30 miles. Sure, the price has dropped to $7,000, but that’s still not nearly enough or good enough. This point is a bit moot these days, as all Tri- and Quad-Motor R1s come with the Max pack, but I’d love to see what a RAD Max pack could be. How cool would 600 to 800 miles of range (cough, solid state, cough) be? Life changing.

Lockers on the Quad

Each front motor on the R1 Quad produces 257 lb-ft of torque, while each rear motor is good for 342 lb-ft for a whacky total output of 1,198 lb-ft of twisting force. A Bugatti Chiron, for example, produces 1,180 lb-ft of torque, whereas a non-hybrid Toyota 4Runner makes 317 lb-ft. The R1 Quad’s torque is enough to get it out of nearly any situation. Emphasis on nearly any. There are times when you’re pointing up a steep hill where the front wheels have essentially no purchase and one of the rears loses traction. I’ve experienced this in my own first-gen Quad (which only makes 247.5 lb-ft of torque per rear motor). Rivian vehicles have a readout that shows you the individual temperature of each motor, and I’ve sat there in horror watching as one of my rear motors goes into the red (overheats) trying to ascend the obstacle described above.

What do lockers do? In vehicles with a differential, the two front or rear wheels are locked together. Why? Because a differential allows one wheel to spin independently. This sucks off-road because that means all the engine’s/motor’s torque can be directed to the wheel with no traction. That’s bad. With a locker, all the torque sent to an axle is routed to both wheels, including the one with traction. On Dual- and Tri-Motor R1 vehicles—where one motor turns two wheels—Rivian doesn’t even bother with a locker, instead relying on an ABS-based system that works but isn’t as good as actual lockers. But for the Quad?

Dunno. And I’m not an engineer, but if disconnecting anti-roll bars is a thing, then there must be a way to tie two electric motors together. Back to our above scenario, 7,000 pounds of truck overheats a 247.5-lb-ft motor, but I bet you 684 lb-ft slowly spinning one wheel would move anything up any obstacle. Come on RAD Team, I’m challenging you.

Four-Wheel Steering

After lockers, I fear that all-wheel steering or rear steering is the least likely thing RAD will do. Rivian will quickly point to the fact that the R1 Quads can do kick turns. That’s where the driver-side motors spin one direction while the passenger-side motors rotate in the opposite, spinning the vehicle in place. I’ve tried it, and yes, it does work, with some caveats. Number one, 7,000 pounds and 1,198 lb-ft hella chews up the ground beneath the vehicle, pardon my NorCalism. Oddly in that regard, Rivian is a company that, usually being environmentally conscious, once had a meeting to discuss the fact that we used an R1T to power an electric chainsaw that cut down one tree. One single tree. Also, the kick turn only works off-road. Well, it very well might work on pavement, but I have at least some sympathy for tires.

If you’ve ever driven a Hummer EV, you know how incredible four-wheel steering can be, both on- and off-road. And I’m not even talking about the gimmicky but cool Crab Walk mode. First of all, the Hummer’s 35.4-foot turning radius is incredible. As Chevy points out, a Bolt’s is 38.3 feet. The Rivian R1S has a 41.3-foot turning radius, whereas the 15-inch-longer-wheelbase R1T has a 44-foot turning radius. Makes the big brute easy to park. Even parallel park. Off-road, the Hummer is much more maneuverable than other SUVs, more so than even those it dwarfs in size. Four-wheel steering would make a RAD vehicle much better off-road.

Better Tires

The Pirelli Scorpion all-terrain tires that come standard on the 20-inch wheels are, as the newer generations say, mid. Decent off-road, fine on-road. Totally and intentionally average. I replaced mine with a few different types of rubber before settling on the Toyo Open Country A/T III, a magnificent tire that’s exceptional off-road and shockingly good in terms of ripping around on canyon roads. It rides great, too. The trade-off is a bit of a range hit (around 5–7 percent), which is why Toyo introduced the Open Country A/T III EV tire, which admittedly I haven’t tried yet, but is supposed to cure the range issue.

That said, Rivian isn’t giving up on the Italian tiremaker quite yet. According to a little birdie, Pirelli is supplying a new off-road tire to Rivian, a special version of its Scorpion XTM. I was also told to look for it on the third-generation R1T and R1S models that are coming sooner than later. We’ve known for a while that Rivian’s been planning an R1X, and that it already confirmed the three-motor R3X is a thing headed for production.

It just makes sense, then, that the first real RAD product will be the near-mythical R1X, and that having the company’s new flagship make its debut in 2027 sandwiched between the just-about-to-hit-consumers midsize R2 and the hotly anticipated R3 hatch in 2028 makes a big old heap of sense.

Either way, I can’t wait to see what RAD cooks up. I just hope it’s listening.