2025 Rivian R1S And R1T: Everything We Know (2024)

Rivian has revealed the updated R1, which includes the R1S SUV and R1T pickup truck. The revised R1 will feature subtly updated styling, new wheel designs and new technology. Rivian says most of the changes are under the skin, though, and it considers this revised model the second generation R1.

The manufacturer shut down its Normal, Illinois factory in April of this year for four weeks to retool and implement new technologies that will go into the updated R1 trucks. This suggests that Rivian is updating the R1 assembly process while also paving the way to start production of the smaller R2 eventually. It first put the revised R1S into production with the R1T to soon follow.

Here’s everything we know about the second-generation R1 trucks.

Battery And Power

One of the most significant changes is a switch in battery chemistry from nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) to lithium iron phosphate (LFP) in the base battery pack for the smallest battery out of the three available packs. In first-gen R1s, the Standard pack had an NMC chemistry with a usable capacity of 105.9 kWh, and the new LFP pack has slightly less (92.5 kWh usable), but Rivian still quotes the same 270-mile EPA range.

If you want more range, Rivian offers a higher-capacity Standard+ battery, which will reportedly have 109 kWh, down from 128.9 kWh in the pre-refresh model. This pack has new cells with NMC chemistry and should deliver 330 miles of range (down from 350 miles in the previous model). The Max battery pack also has NMC cells and has grown in capacity to 141.5 kWh offering 380 miles of range (or 410 miles in Conserve mode).

Rivian has made numerous changes under the skin of its R1 trucks to cut costs, and one way it’s doing this is by simplifying the battery packs. Company boss RJ Scaringe said that they managed to bring the number of components that go into the battery pack down from 41 to 16, which “took thousands of dollars of cost” out and made manufacturing the pack cheaper.

There are now four powertrain levels and all newR1s will get new motors in place of the Bosch drive units they were using before. Rivian will build these new motors in-house. Base trucks will have a dual-motor setup with 553 horsepower, which can be increased to 665 horsepower with a Performance software upgrade.

A new addition is the Tri-Motor version, which has two motors driving the rear and one in the front for a combined total of 850 horsepower, which is more than the old quad-motor variant's 835 horsepower. The Quad-Motor model now gets 1,025 horsepower and a mountain-moving 1,198 pound-feet of torque, which is enough for a 0 to 60 mph sprint time of around 2.5 seconds—that's about half a second quicker than the old model could muster.

Cost And Complexity Reduction

Rivian was losing money on its trucks so one of the big things it's doing with the model refresh is streamlining and simplifying the manufacturing process—it’s all about improving manufacturing efficiency and lowering costs.

RJ Scaringe has made this clear through several statements and there are over 600 changes under the skin that not only improve the truck but also make it cheaper to build. One big change is that they made the wiring harness much simpler.

Several revised R1 sightings have been reported on the road, and none of the trucks were wearing camouflage. In fact, Rivian has dozens of new R1s parked outside its factory, hiding them in plain sight as it prepares to officially introduce the updated model.

However, the fact that they look almost identical to the old model doesn’t mean a lot has remained the same under the skin. The software is way better than before and the new user interface is powered by Unreal Engine—this should make changing settings and going through menus in the infotainment much better than before.

The software glitches that many owners complained about should be a thing of the past. And even though the idea of cutting costs doesn't sound like it should make the truck better, Rivian insists it's listened to the feedback and addressed most of the problems that owners reported. Our first drive impressions were pretty good.

Design Changes

The updated R1 models' biggest visual change is the redesigned light bar in the front—the rear light bar is also slightly changed, but it looks almost identical. They will also get redesigned wheels, and the brake calipers will go from yellow to silver. Buyers can also pick a blacked-out badge pack for a more subtle look.

With the updated light bar, Rivian has moved the indicator lights from inside the oval where the headlight projectors are to where the fog lights are in the pre-refresh model. The light bar also gains an RGB function, which means it can display a much wider range of colors than before.

Rivian has removed the physical interior door handles and replaced them with electronic door poppers like the ones on many other EVs, including Teslas.