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Hey folks hope you're well and welcome to the Rivian Stories podcast, episode 8. I'm your host, Kyle Shultz, and I'm joined again today by Jimmy McGovern and Skyler Williams. I met Jimmy and Skylar over at RivianStories.com, a great place to connect with other Rivian fans, ask questions, speculate, and in general have FUN with all things Rivian. So please join us by registering FREE at RivianStories.com. Again that's rivianstories.com.

You can also see video snippets of this podcast over on YouTube. Just search for Rivian Stories. And of course, don't forget to follow us on Instagram.

01:00 - NO Apple Car Play?! 🤯🤯🤯 😆

05:46 - Other UI / UX speculations

11:04 - Driver + and the road to autonomy

This is part 2 from a conversation between myself (Kyle Shultz), Jimmy McGovern, and Skyler Williams. I met Jimmy and Skylar over at RivianStories.com, a great online community for all things Rivian. 

And btw I'm really enjoying meeting so many of YOU all over on the site and can't wait to show you the Rivian Stories mobile app that I'm working on. I really think it's going to be the best place, hands down, for the Rivian Community to connect, ask questions, speculate, and in general have FUN with all things Rivian. So please join us by registering FREE at RivianStories.com. Again that's rivianstories.com.

You can also see video snippets of this podcast over on YouTube. And of course, don't forget to follow us on Instagram.

Show Notes:

1. Rivian communication (or lack thereof). Listen, we all love Rivian, obviously. We're just reporting on what is becoming a growing frustration amongst the pre-order community. Namely: there's a ton of questions / info out there that hasn't been addressed. Rivian's communication style is "show, don't tell" and "under promise, over deliver" which we all love, but it just feels like the lid is on too tight, perhaps.
2. New Hires at Rivian. And is "JR" in customer service really just RJ Scaringe in disguise? 🥸 😆
3. Rivian Insurance speculation.
4. How Rivian could streamline the things that are a pain in the rear when it comes to purchasing a vehicle.

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Today I’m joined by 2 great guys I met over at RivianStories.com, Skyler and Jimmy. We had a simple chat about some recent Rivian news, including:N

The recent Patagonia to LA to Now video. You wouldn’t believe how much Rivian nerds can gather from such a simple video 😆, but here’s a few things:

• Overall thoughts on improved ride quality (smooth and tight).
• Paint options
• Wrap options
• Meridian Audio system
• Cabin spoiler changes

Rivian’s latest 2.65 billion dollar investment.

Chase + Rivian partnership for financing.

And there’s plenty more.

Here's how you can support the show:

[=0===0=] Subscribe to this podcast! 

[=0===0=] Register for a FREE account at rivianstories.com

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Questions covered:

1. Can you sum up this house bill?
2. My first question here, and I’m sure everyone else’s, is WHY? Obviously it has to involve protection and fear and money/power/politics. And so I don’t want to put you in a tough spot. But can you just lay the truth out there for us in words that a 4th grader could understand?
3. Okay so this bill passed the House as we’ve already mentioned (by a big margin I might add, 65-39). What stage are we in the process as far as Senate intervention?
4. What do MI residents need to do to fight this? Answer: Call your senator and speak up. You can find your senators here: https://www.senate.michigan.gov/fysbyaddress.html. If you want to buy a Rivian and have it serviced in Michigan you need to tell them that you do not want this bill to pass! Tesla owners, please speak out against this too!
5. Is there anything non-MI residents need to be aware of? Anything we can do to pitch in? Anything else you want to say in general?

My fav quote (from Laycee)  that seems to sum up the entire situation:

“Residents of MI who want to buy the SAFEST and MOST ADVANCED autos should not be forced into leaving the state for sales and service. Customers should have a choice. If people prefer the franchise model, they WILL continue visiting franchise dealerships. Preventing healthy competition and the ability to choose the direct model is a MASSIVE disservice to each of your constituents.”

Please follow Laycee on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram!

This all takes a ton of time. I need your help. Here's how:

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The Rivian Adventure Network will include fast-chargers located along interstates, but will also install dozens of EV chargers designed to power up its electric vehicles while parked at adventurous destinations, from mountain bike and hiking trails to kayaking spots and maybe even near popular climbing crags. Dozens of locations will roll out in 2021, while the network will look densely populated by 2023.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/08/rivian-is-building-its-own-ev-charging-network-but-with-an-adventurous-twist/

“The challenge is we don’t control those networks, so the payments platforms, the uptime, the performance, the ability to reserve a charger — all those things that take the friction of charging away — we don’t truly control,” said Scaringe. “With the Rivian Adventure Network, we have 100% control of that; we get to know what vehicles are charging or how they’re charging, the rates. We can be really creative in terms of locations, so it can allow us to get to places that are very specific and unique to Rivian.”

To this point don’t forget RJ already vamped on this a few weeks ago in the Bloomberg interview: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2020-11-23/rivian-ceo-sees-ev-production-constraints-through-2023-video

Speculation: RAN is made possible NOT only by billions of cash on hand. More credit can be given  the Amazon deal - 100,000 vans. 3 weeks ago I edited this out as a big benefit in response to HyperChange saying that Rivian has the wrong focus and priority. I said in that podcast that in addition to sheer revenue, that Rivian would certainly be involved in building out a charging infrastructure for 100,000 vans. And although clearly the charging points for vans would be connected to final mile shipping stations, that they’ll be able to take massive amounts intellectual capital from that and apply it to the RAN.

“If you think of commercial vans, the charger and the dispenser may look a little different, but the guts of these power modules that are used to build up the charging capability are identically applied in these very different applications,” he said. “It’s one of the reasons we built all that core competency, so we can build both fleet-based B2B charging solutions and the consumer-facing adventure network for Rivian customers.”

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Who buys pickups? https://www.chicagobusiness.com/manufacturing/your-next-car-will-probably-be-electric-pickup-truck

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Rivian will lease 500,000 square feet of warehouse space in Normal IL, 6 miles east of the Rivian factory. Rivian plans to use the building for inbound logistics and parts receiving. Rivian is expected to take possession of a building under construction in March. Interior work is scheduled to finish in summer.

https://www.pantagraph.com/business/local/watch-now-rivian-to-lease-500-000-square-foot-normal-warehouse/article_88f7d46c-80e6-5f90-bc77-08f8cf159103.html

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How to find your preorder # Update. If your preorder was after August 2020, then it isn’t a terribly useful number. They adjusted the numbering system at that time. I don’t think we have collected enough data to determine if there is a pattern to the adjusted numbers. That said, if you ordered after August 2020 it appears as if you’re going to have a pretty high number.

Brought to you by Rivian Stories: Now accepting cool Rivianites only, free at https://rivianstories.com/

• Rivian adds industry veteran Laura Schwab as vice president of sales and marketing at Rivian. https://www.autonews.com/executives/rivian-adds-industry-veteran-schwab-first-sales-begin
• 30,000 is the number that keeps popping up everywhere re: preorders. That’s what I’m hearing locally and also what this article suggests: https://insideevs.com/news/437341/rivian-r1t-30-thousand-reservations/ What does this mean for timing, both for pre-order and say, brand new orders? After digging into an old article https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-normal-rivian-auto-plant-20190215-story.html I’m guessing 10,000 units per year for the first few years, but even that might be high given recent supply constraints.
• Speaking of reservations, I show how to find your Rivian preorder number. But you might need to apply some simple subtraction as outlined here: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/your-actual-place-in-reservation-line-based-on-rivian-preorder.647/
• Michigan HB 6233 was passed this week and seeks to shut down the sales of Tesla, Rivian, and any other direct to consumer sales of autos in MI. https://electrek.co/2020/12/03/tesla-loophole-direct-sales-in-michigan-is-getting-shut-political-backstabbing/ Michiganders, make sure to check out this post by MissGoElectric for instructions on how to join the fight: https://www.reddit.com/r/Rivian/comments/k62ap6/michiganders_we_need_to_fight_back_first_step/
• Black wheel options are coming for Launch Edition reservation holders. https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/update-from-rivian-dark-wheel-option-coming-soon-for-launch-edition-reservation-holders.893/ Cost? I’m guessing $1700.
• Tremendous R1S range and energy consumption work here: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/r1s-range-and-energy-consumption.894/
• https://abetterrouteplanner.com/ includes the Rivian R1T and R1S (currently alpha)!

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