2025 Rivian R1T Tri Review: Three Motors And Max Battery Make Life Sweet (And Expensive)

Every electric truck currently on the market has its own thing. The Ford F-150 Lightning tries to be the truck of the working person. It has plugs all over for power tools and little cubbies and a massive frunk for storage. The GMC Hummer EV does its best to look like a truck that the guy from DOOM would drive, with an absurd amount of horsepower and off-road chops to match. 

The GMC Sierra EV and Chevy Silverado EV throw a sporty/luxurious spin on the EV truck formula. Tesla's Cybertruck mostly fails at being anything other than a rolling punchline that exemplifies everything that's rotten in today's society.

Lastly, though actually one of the first EV truck brands on the market, Rivian's R1T wants to offer the be all and end all when it comes to adventure trucks, often with the price tag to match. I was tasked with reviewing the most powerful and capable truck Rivian has to offer right now, the 2025 Rivian R1T Tri-Max. Without giving too much away in the first few paragraphs, Rivian has something special with the R1T. It's really good.

Before I talk about what I liked about the Rivian (and to be fair, what I didn't like), let's define some terms. Not counting the electric vans only available for fleet sales, the R1T is one of only two models Rivian currently offers to the general public. The other is the R1S, essentially an SUV version of the same thing. Rivian doesn't have a particularly varied lineup. Its upcoming R2 and R3 models model are more SUVs. But there's power in eliminating complexity: before Tesla became a global pariah, it found its early success in offering a small lineup in a limited amount of colors.

This specific Rivian R1T is the Tri-Max, which, like the name denotes, has a three motor drivetrain, up from the base model's two motors. That extra power results in a somewhat unworldly 850 horsepower and a 0-60 time of 2.9 seconds. Dethroning the GMC Hummer I drove last year, the Rivian R1T Tri-Max is the most powerful car I've ever driven. The 2.9-second sprint to 60 miles per hour ties with the Acura NSX Type S I drove in Atlanta. 

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I've driven a lot of performance cars over the years ranging from Ferraris to the latest and greatest BMW M-cars, yet one of the quickest and most powerful cars I've ever driven is a pickup truck that wouldn't look out of place in an REI parking lot. Something about that fact is very funny to me. There's a quad-motor 1,025 horsepower version coming later this year, and it boasts a 0-60 time of 2.5 seconds. Yikes.

All that power needs a big battery and the R1T doesn't disappoint. It's equipped with what Rivian calls the "Max Battery." In normal driving conditions, it's supposed to deliver 371 miles of range. In "Conserve" mode, Rivian says it'll travel 405 miles before needing its fill of electrons. Payload and capacity-wise, Rivian says the bed can hold a maximum of 1,764 pounds and it can tow 11,000 pounds.

All of those specs are impressive and all, but what is it actually like to live with? A lot of electric cars have a weird gimmick or two that, frankly, negate from the driving experience a bit. The cars keep reminding you that its different through odd features or a goofy interior layout. I was pleased when the Cadillac Optiq eschewed the trend and just presented itself as a Cadillac, and I'm happy to report that the Rivian gave me a lot of the same feeling. It really is just a luxury truck. 

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The interior, in its "Ocean Coast" and "Driftwood" colorway, really isn't off-putting or sterile like you might find in a Tesla. It's minimalistic to be sure, but not in a way that makes it harder to live with. The high-pile carpet floor mats really completed the beach vibe, despite the fact I never once went near the beach over the test period. The seats are comfy, heated, and ventilated and there's plenty of room for five adults in the cab. It's a genuinely useful people hauler.

The inside and outside are chock-full of little storage spaces and places to put all of your stuff. The four-foot bed isn't great for moving drywall, but it's more than adequate for a bike or two. The pass-through "gear tunnel" that spans the width of the pickup is perfect for fishing rods, skateboards, camera tripods, rifles for hunting, and a lot else. Rivian clearly put a lot of effort into ensuring you have a place to store your accoutrements.

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I do, however, have a qualm with the Rivian's interior. The total lack of buttons was initially pretty annoying. Adjusting the steering wheel and just about every feature of the car through the infotainment screen was a little bit of a chore at times. If you absolutely hate touch screens, the Rivian isn't for you. I got used to it eventually and, to Rivian's credit, the infotainment system worked as intended. It was relatively bug-free. The lack of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto was a little maddening at times and sometimes my phone's apps wouldn't always play nicely with the sound system. 

Over the course of the week, I found the stated 371 mile range to be fairly consistent. I usually drove in Conserve mode, which limits the amount of motors used, and the 405 mile estimate from Rivian was right on the money. Range anxiety was pretty minimal and I only needed to charge it twice. Fortunately, I live near one of Rivian's own charging stations as part of the Rivian Adventure Network, and I was able to top up the battery from 10% to 95% in just about an hour at 220 kW. I did not test other charging networks, but the Rivian I tested came with an adaptor to use Tesla's Supercharger network.

As one would expect with an electric car, the driving experience is smooth and pretty drama free. It's a bigger pickup truck, but I was able to drive it in and around Baltimore City on the way to an Orioles game with no trouble at all. The R1T only becomes a handful when you switch it to "Sport" mode. That lowers the body a bit and unleashes all 850 horsepower. I stomped on the accelerator at a stop light and the tires chirped and the motors whined, and before most people would have a reasonable amount of time to comprehend what is happening, the truck was already at 60 miles per hour. It requires a bit of a steady hand and calm nerves to push it hard. It's fast and it moves.

Another thing I noticed about the Rivian is that a lot of other people didn't have any idea what it was. I went to the Conowingo Dam, a hydroelectric plant in Maryland that attracts a lot of bird watchers and fisherman, to take pictures for this review, and I was stopped by a number of fisherman who had a dozen different questions about the truck. The most common was "What is it?" followed closely by "Who makes it?" Answering "Rivian" for both questions didn't seem to assuage any of the queries. 

Rivian has come a long way in making an excellent electric truck, but it still has a way to go in brand recognition. Strangely, the Rivian Amazon vans seemed to be more recognizable among the people I talked to.

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The truck looks great in the green color it was equipped with, but it was a little anonymous in styling. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the extent of what I can say about the aesthetics is that it "looks nice." However, that's definitely a plus over something like the stainless steel monstrosity from Tesla, or the outright assault on the eyes and decency that is the GMC Hummer EV.

If you have read any of SlashGear's prior Rivian coverage or reviews, you already know it's not a brand acquainted with inexpensive cars. The least expensive 270-mile dual-motor R1T starts at $69,900. The Tri-Max I drove starts at a cool $99,900. The Max Battery is standard on this trim. Forest Green paint adds $2,000. The aforementioned "Ocean Coast" and "Driftwood" interior is also $2,000, while the 22-inch wheels throw on another $1,000. The removable Rivian-branded Bluetooth speaker tags on $450. Add on a destination fee of $1,800 and you arrive at the final price of $107,650.

For context within Rivian's own brand, the SUV R1S starts at $75,900 and maxes out at $105,900 before any options on the Tri-Max trim. Its delivery van starts at $79,900, and the longer wheelbase model will set you back $83,900 if you want to add it to your fleet. Rivian isn't a cheap brand, nor is it trying to be. 

That's a lot of environmentally friendly money, though its not a completely outlandish price tag in context. The most expensive F-150 Lightning Platinum starts at $82,385 and tops out at 300 miles of range. The Max Range GMC Sierra EV starts at $100,495, for which it offers an estimated 460 miles of range. It's unfortunate that we live in an era where I can say that over six-figures isn't a wild price for the truck, but Rivian is just working within the market.

The Rivian R1T is a fantastic truck. It's perfectly suited to everyday use, while also possessing the ability to blow the doors off most other cars with sheer power and speed. The pickup truck profile lends itself to an adventure aesthetic while being genuinely useful. I am not in the market for a $100,000+ (or even a $70,000+) truck, and I probably won't find myself in that strata of car buyers anytime soon. Still, if I was, I would absolutely buy a Rivian R1T.