YouTuber Zack Nelson of the channel Jerry Rig Everything recently conducted a test to see how his electric Rivian R1T truck would handle towing a 9,300 pound electromod Hummer H1 in the dead of winter. To add even more weight, Nelson added about 1,000 pounds of scrap to the load, bringing the total weight to over 10,000 pounds.
The R1T has a maximum towing capacity of 11,000 pounds, so it was within its limits for the test. Prior to the test, Nelson had recorded a maximum range of 280 miles for the truck. The test was meant to see how the combination of towing and cold weather would affect the range of the R1T.
After attaching a trailer and load weighing over 10,000 pounds to his Rivian R1T electric truck, YouTuber Zack Nelson set off on a journey of about 100 miles. Despite the heavy load and cold weather, the truck’s onboard computer initially calculated that it had a range of 635 miles, which was significantly higher than any range it had previously recorded.
However, as Nelson drove, the computer’s range estimates fluctuated and often overstated the actual range by hundreds of miles. Nelson kept track of the range separately and discovered that about 70 miles into the trip, the truck only had about 40 miles of range remaining.
After making a few charging stops during his journey, YouTuber Zack Nelson determined that towing a heavy load in cold weather significantly reduced the range of his Rivian R1T electric truck by about two-thirds. While electric vehicles may not be suitable for frequent long hauls at this time, they can still handle infrequent tasks like this.
