If you have an extra $16,000 lying around, Rivian just added a new Max Pack battery option to its online vehicle configurator.
The company has been teasing this for several years, and now it's here, making the Rivian R1T pickup and R1S SUV the highest-range vehicles in their class.
The R1T with a Max Pack goes up to 410 miles on a single charge, and the R1S with a Max Pack gets 400 miles. Customer deliveries for the R1T with Max Pack have already begun, Rivian tells PCMag, and the R1S with Max Pack will begin deliveries later this fall.
Rivian initially intended to offer the Max Pack along with its most powerful Quad Motor, but the company has since changed its approach. It's only available with the Dual Motor and Performance Dual Motor, which means a lower price with slightly higher range.
"This update introduces a more energy dense Max pack design that pairs with our Dual-Motor drive system to deliver long range with outstanding performance at a lower price point," says Rivian. "Making this change supports our continued focus on simplifying the production process as we scale."
The company's focus on production is paying off: This week it reported higher-than-expected Q3 deliveries after streamlining its supply chain, Reuters reports.
Early preorder holders who initially selected a Max Pack with Quad Motor received a price reduction on their vehicle between $1,000 to $6,000 depending on when they placed their order and the specific options selected.
Some who have been following Rivian's story found the last-minute change disappointing. "Now the Max Pack is not as 'max' as it might have been engineered or designed at one time," Skyler Williams of Rivian Stories said in an interview with Out of Spec.
Rivian still plans to offer the Max Pack with the Quad Motor "in the future" and will release pricing for this new variant closer to launch.
In reality, most drivers won't require the Quad Motor's blazing fast acceleration and powerful torque on a daily basis. More people are likely to appreciate the 410-mile range, especially at a lower price. Rivian says the additional range comes from an in-house developed battery management system, which is more energy dense.