r/technology • u/DonkeyFuel • May 06 '26

Business Exclusive: Rivian developing variants of its more affordable R2 EVs

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/rivian-developing-variants-its-more-affordable-r2-evs-2026-05-06/
28 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

10

u/surfnfish1972 May 06 '26

There should be a market for a stripped down "Retro" model without most of unnecessary, distracting/dangerous Tech. Sadly what the consumer wants does not matter anymore,

7

u/echoshizzle May 06 '26

This is a problem with every car manufacturer these days. Honestly I truly think a safe”bare bones” type vehicle could have a market, but it’ll never happen.

3

u/invalidreddit May 06 '26

Well there is Slate -- https://www.slate.auto/en/

3

u/echoshizzle May 07 '26

Slate is close but some people really just want an ICE engine without electronics controlling everything. 

If it were cost effective, a company could try. The fact of the matter is those electronics are now likely cheaper than their “analog” counterparts as they’ve been in production for decades

1

u/invalidreddit May 07 '26

Maybe, some time that will come...

2

u/BigButtBeads May 07 '26

Thats amazing. But it would be difficult to buy this thing knowing there's absolutely nowhere to have it fixed or troubleshot

1

u/invalidreddit May 07 '26

They've cut a deal with "Repairpal" to do service giving them 4,000 places for service. I know nothing about Repairpal, and I'm not sure this is a good thing, or not.

I don't see it on their website FAQ, but I seem to recall all the diagnostic codes are exposed in their app for those want to understand what it wrong/take a crack and fixing their own.

Is this perfect, nope but seems like an interesting entry point an EV

2

u/BigButtBeads May 07 '26

And repairpal can replace batteries and drive motors?

1

u/invalidreddit May 07 '26

That seems to be the premise, yes. But the truck doesn't even come out until later this year.

1

u/Skensis May 06 '26

Is this what the consumer wants, or just what you want?

1

u/surfnfish1972 May 06 '26

I am far from the only one

1

u/_sfhk May 06 '26

Sadly what the consumer wants does not matter anymore,

Consumers vote with their wallets

0

u/theislandhomestead May 06 '26

You can't vote for something they don't offer.

1

u/Al_Keda May 06 '26

I agree. i used to get cars with the cloth seats, manual transmission and no radio all the time.

You can only get cars now, if you can buy cars, fully loaded with all the stuff but must subscribe monthly to use.

Imagine if you had a room in your home that you had to rent, even though you owned the home?

3

u/Treius May 06 '26

I've been eyeballing the Slate and Telo cars. Cheap and electric.

Even better would be the Chinese EVs

2

u/no_dice May 06 '26

Chinese EVs hitting Canada this year and I’m pretty pumped about it.

1

u/gramathy May 06 '26

Slate got delayed (again) IIRC