A Rivian R1T was involved in a very minor fender bender, and the cost to repair it was over $42,000. This Rivian R1T was in stop-&-go traffic, less than 10mph from the looks of it, when it was rear ended. When the Rivian’s owner brought the truck to a Rivian-certified repair shop, it took 10 weeks & allegedly 300 hours to fix. And drumroll – the grand total came out to over $42,000.
Now, as a common sense observer…
It sounds like there’s some big-time fu¢kery going on here. I don’t see how that repair would cost $42,000 on anything short of a space shuttle or extremely significant collector car. Or why the back window needed to come out?? But – this is exactly the type of fu¢kery that the EV movement makes us all vulnerable to. It opens the door to opportunity-exploiters across the board – from mining, to legislation, to repair. And by looking at this fender bender, it seems like 1) Either the repair shop is criminal. Or 2) the Rivian was designed with absolutely zero concern for repair & serviceability.
See – this Rivian repair story is relevant, because of the bigger picture it represents.
And that is: We are forfeiting our common sense & control in the EV movement. How have we gotten to a point where this kind of repair bill can even be handed-over with a straight face? Here’s how: Because it’s electric & not mechanical. A love-tap in an EV could potentially cause expensive electronic components (like battery packs) to go haywire & total-out the vehicle. In other words, a fender-bender in an EV has to be approached like a brain injury. Whereas a fender-bender in a common sense ICE vehicle is just a scrape on the knee really.
This Rivian was brand new. But what happens when it’s 3 years old & gets in a fender bender after depreciation sets in? In that case, we’re looking at a total loss, and thus, a 7,000lb “environmentally sustainable” hunk of sh¡t in a junkyard. In other words, it’s a vehicle that caused far more environmental destruction during its production… than it ever saved in its short ‘zero-emission’ lifespan. While also causing higher insurance rates for all drivers.
The EV industry loves to throw around the word “sustainable”…
(because it gets them grants). But the word “sustainable” has more than just an environmental application. And this right here, is not sustainable. My advice… stay far away from this headache. Here is a link to the original post by the Rivian’s owner.
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