Motor Mouth: Dissecting the numbers behind Rivian’s electric pickup

In a surprising twist of the ‘country bumpkin goes to town’ fable, it turns out the hit of the recent auto show in New York — possibly the most congested inner city in the world, and certainly the most cosmopolitan — was a great, giant, hulking pickup truck. Oh, Toyota’s Highlander probably drew more cameras. And any time Subaru introduces a new Outback it’s a media event.

The mid-range 135 kWh version — there’s a 105 kWh base model, and the 400-miler boasts a whopping 180 kWh — is, for now, the only model for which Rivian is providing specific details. It will, says the company’s spec sheet, weigh 2,670 kilograms . Now, it’s impossible to know how exact these specifications are. Rivian’s own director of communications, Michael McHale, says that the numbers are mere “guidelines.

Meanwhile, some really basic math reveals that its 180kWh and 400-mile combination work out to 45 kWh depleted every 100 miles driven.While hardly spectacular — a 2017 Chevy Bolt needs only about 28 kWh — it isabout the same as Audi’s new e-tron and just a little worse than a Tesla’s Model X 100D, both of which will weigh at least 500 kg —possibly even 700 — less than the topline R1T.

Even at US$125 per kWh — the consensus basement of lithium ion’s economies-of-scale pricing — that’s US$22,500 for the batteries alone, not far off the US$24,300 Ford is asking for its all-new Ranger, which thanks to its fuel-sipping 2.3-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder engine, also ekes out about the same 400 miles from a tankful.

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