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I applaud Rivian's offerings to the EV world. R1T & R1S appear to be well thought out capable vehicles for buyers that have a sense of adventure and want full electric luxury automobiles. The Projected Specifications for R1T are impressive by any metric. The Rivian web site lists front trunk volume at 330L, but what about the bed?
I would guess that the bed volume is at or just short of .5 cubic meter and it does not appear to be well suited for lose material like stone or sand. I see this segment of vehicles as a SUV with external storage, not a pickup. Rivian is not alone in calling this type of vehicle a pickup. Honda calls the Ridgeline a pickup, GM calls the Avalanche a pickup and other auto manufactures also have this type of vehicle in there lineup. No matter how it is branded it is great to see more EV's hitting the tarmac.
On the “No Fuel in the Woods!” subject: note Rivian CEO RJ has been quoted (most recently in that interview on the Gondola, see news section here) as saying they are hoping to offer ”digital jerry can“ options, ie portable batteries that you can take along for emergencies. This plus that 400+ mile range should go a ways towards alleviating ”woods range anxiety”. Plus as Marcin G points out above, finding electricity in the boonies is sometimes easier than finding gasoline. NOW if those digital jerry cans can be recharged from a portable solar cell system, you might be able to get enough charge to get back to civilization even if you are nuts enough to run those to empty. Might take days, but you can enjoy camping in the outdoors while you wait.;)
When it comes to capability of charging or refueling in remote location charging wins. I experienced trouble of not being able to purchase gas in remote locations bc gas station was simply closed or out of fuel. With electricity even if it takes 20hr to charge overnight you can get power almost everywhere and that will get even better with solar - battery powered systems.
I saw that video about a week and a half ago.
Sure, it is not a work site pickup. But it should be a serious and rugged off-road machine that is still luxurious for on-road. Compare the specs to a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon.
I agree. Would be pretty reluctant to have a skip loader dump loose sand or gravel into that bed no matter what size it is. Probably bagged materials only. $69k to $100k is quite a deterrent to using it as a workhorse. I used to have an Avalanche and I used it like a pickup quite a bit, but nothing went in the bed that could do damage. Also, I can’t even imagine doing any serious off-roading with it either because I would care too much about it. My dad once told me “a car should be a slave to you, and you should not be a slave to it”. I never took that advice :).