NEW KID ON THE ELECTRIC BLOCK

The Rivian R1T can rumble up mountains, through snow, and across unrelenting desert, all with a design that provides premium comfort.

By JOE YOGERST

They’re starting to pop up here and there along the Southern California coast, a sleek truck with eye-like stadium headlights and an emotive front end that almost seems to smile at oncoming traffic.

No, it’s not one of the characters from the Pixar movie Cars come to life — it’s the new Rivian R1T, a revolutionary all-electric pickup that features a mind-blowing mix of performance, luxury, comfort, utility, capability and personality.

The Rivian R1T ‘s eye like headlights and an emotive front end almnost seems to smile at oncoming traffic

Along with the R1S sports utility vehicle, it’s the long-awaited first offering from Rivian Automotive Inc., an Irvine, CA-based company aiming to take a huge bite out of the rapidly growing electric vehicle market over the next few years and beyond.

“Much of what makes our R1 vehicles unique lies within both the product and the process by which it was created,” says a Rivian spokesperson. “Being a new company, we were able to design our vehicles from a clean sheet, envision a truck and SUV from the ground up unlike anything else that’s on the road.”

Rivian’s innovations include a “skateboard” battery platform that allows placement of a “gear tunnel” behind the cab, a large storage space they were able to save by not having to include a gas tank. Same goes for the front trunk, 11 cubic feet of storage where an engine would normally sit in a vehicle with an internal combustion engine.

Depending on which electric motor and battery pack combination the owner chooses, the pickup can range between 260 and 400 miles on a full charge. And Rivian claims the battery systems will remain fully functional from as high as 130ºF to as low as -25ºF.

Clockwise from left: Camp Mode makes camping out as convenient and comfortable as possible; an optional Camp Kitchen module for cooking anywhere is currently in development; right center and bottom: the design offers multiple storage options