Charging Specs

For at home charging you will need a 48A (or smaller) charger with an SAE J1772 connector on a 60A 240V circuit. There are a several of these available including the Tesla HPWCs (but you will need an adapter http://www.umc-j1772.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=50 to use the Tesla chargers_). Note that this maximum sized charger (11.5 kW) puts 20 - 25 miles into the truck for each hour connected to it.

When it comes to solar or generators for charging the main consideration is that each mile you drive the vehicle is going to mean approximately half a kWh must be delivered to its charging port. Thus a 7 kW contractor's generator will increase range by about 14 miles range per hour it charges the battery. The typical solar panel seen on a residential roof delivers about 0.25 kW (when the sun is shining on it at its maxiumum) and so each panel would add about 0.5 mile per hour. Thus portable solar solutions aren't really practical but if you have a cabin with a 5 kW solar system you could charge 10 miles per hour when the sun shines.

 

I have my reservation in and will be ordering a charging station later this year. As we get closer to delivery will we get specs on charging options and adapters? Power is not a problem as I have 480 at our winery. I am in the middle of New Mexico with I-25 as my neighbor and would love to be a charging platform for other Rivian users.

 

I also suspect it would be IF they did it on their own. But couldn't a business make a request to one of the charging networks (Electrify America, ChargePoint, etc.) to install a DCFC at their location, say, in exchange for the property (or lease it?) or how ever they typically draw up those arrangements? Certainly the location of the business would play a huge part in determining if it makes sense to install a DCFC there. These charging networks need to install them somewhere, which it seems they typically end up on property owned by a business or municipality. If a business presents a case where they have an ideal location and land for a DCFC, then they're providing something the charging networks need. Seems like in my naive impression that this won't cost the property / business owner as much but I could be totally off base as I'm just spit-balling here.

 

Well it might be. There are no Level 2 chargers that I know of that will work on that or the 277 V that comes from the Y connection. They all take 120 or 240 (practically speaking, 240). So you will have to convert from 480 to 120/240. Presumably you have office space with computers, copiers etc. so that there is a transformer somewhere. But does it have capacity for an extra 11.52 kW load?

Brace yourself if you need a separate transformer. Those things are expensive!

Lots of businesses put in what Tesla calls "Destination Charging" to attract customers. This is one or more Level 2 chargers installed for their use. If you put in a separate transformer you could make it big enough to support a mix of J1772 and Tesla HPWC chargers and perhaps draw a few more customers your way.