For sure the Rivian is not going to replace a Cruiser or a Patrol for the big outback hauls. Even with it's big battery pack it can only do 600k. So range, for that purpose, it is still a big issue. And then there would be the issue of charging it at somewhere remote like Mount Dare. But, that is at the more extreme end of the scale. An awful lot of Cruisers are family cars that tow a boat a few times a year. So, in many cases it would do the job for a lot of people now.
But what impresses me about it is everything else. Outright power, superior traction control, flexibility in design that an ICE vehicle simply doesn't have.
With regard to battery tech, it is changing rapidly. Whatever Tesla has up his sleeve for his trucks and his roadster suggests that range for these bigger vehicles is not going to an issue for too long. There is so much going on with flow batteries for cars, supercap hybrids, hydrogen fuel cells etc that I don't think it will be too long before we see ranges of 1000ks. For that reason I wouldn't be buying a Rivian next year ( plus I simply don't need to ) is because I'd rather wait until it and other brands are on the market for a couple of years. I'm sure in that time range, reliability, charging options etc will be sorted out. That's why I'm going with a 5 year timeframe.
One thing that has occurred to me though is the outback charging issue. Given stations are so remote even getting diesel there can be problematic and expensive. One thing those stations have is plenty of sun. Bucketloads of it. So I imagine well down the track when stationary storage gets much cheaper, those stations will have large power storages for all their power needs. Charging a vehicle of one them shouldn't be an issue however that is still a long way out.
