- Rivian’s electric van, known as the Electric Commercial Van (ECV) can’t use Tesla Superchargers.
- That’s despite Rivian being among the first automakers to strike a charging deal with Tesla.
Rivian was the second automaker after Ford to gain access to the Tesla Supercharger network of DC fast chargers in the United States and Canada after Tesla decided to open up its white-and-red stalls to the competition. General Motors followed, and dozens more are lined up to gain access starting next year.
The Rivian R1S and R1T are among the EVs that can top up their batteries at the roughly 18,000 Supercharger stalls open to non-Tesla EVs across the United States and Canada. However, the Rivian Electric Commercial Van is not.
That’s because only retail-oriented vehicles are part of the deal between the two companies, according to a Rivian representative who replied to questions from InsideEVs over email. It’s the same story with General Motors–the fleet-oriented Chevrolet Silverado EV Work Truck (WT) and BrightDrop van can’t use Tesla Superchargers, while the Silverado EV RST can.
In the case of Rivian’s van, it shouldn’t be a problem. Amazon, the biggest Electric Commercial Van (ECV) customer, with over 15,000 units on the road, has installed over 17,000 chargers at its facilities to make it easier to top up between or after deliveries. And anyway, the battery-powered van was designed from the ground up as a last-mile delivery vehicle with a maximum estimated range of 161 miles on a full charge.
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Rivian
It makes sense to have chargers at the depot, just like a private EV driver would have a home charger. But what happens when those 100,000 electric vans ordered by Amazon from Rivian will hit the used market? We’re still a long way from that milestone, but it will happen eventually. And when it does, people who end up buying them will have to make do with the non-Tesla charging infrastructure, which, admittedly, is expected to considerably increase in size in the coming years.
The same situation applies to people who buy used Chevy Silverado EVs in WT trim from rental car giant Hertz. They’re cheaper than the retail version, but there’s no Tesla Supercharger access.
