Rivian R1T's Troubled Power Tonneau Is Gone—at Least for Now

Rivian has notified R1T reservation holders that it is removing the powered tonneau option on the electric truck and will “upgrade” the system to reintroduce it at an unspecified future time.Reservation holders waiting for an R1T who want to receive their truck as scheduled will need to choose between getting a manual cover or no cover option at all. Choosing no tonneau results in a $1500 reduction in price, while choosing the manual cover option reduces the price by $700.

It’s no secret that EV startup Rivian has had some growing pains in its first year of delivering vehicles. Deliveries of the highly anticipated R1S SUV experienced delays earlier this year, and Car and Driver experienced our share of electronic glitches throughout our testing process earlier this year. In September, Rivian reached out to R1T owners to lay out plans for a replacement tonneau cover due to a litany of issues cropping up for owners. On Friday the company announced that as it works on a solution, or as they put it, an “upgrade,” the current tonneau will be pulled from production. The company plans to reintroduce the option in the future but has not indicated how long before that happens.

Preorder holders are being given two options: choose a manual tonneau cover and see the price of the R1T drop by $700, or forgo the tonneau option entirely and have the price drop by $1500. Rivian made it clear in a statement to C/D that neither choice will affect vehicle delivery date. The company is still working on updating its online configurator, something it expects to complete later this month.

The manual tonneau will consist of four interlocking panels, which can be stored in an accompanying cargo bag when not in use. It will be fully lockable and should protect cargo from “light weather.”According to the statement sent to owners, any customer with a preordered R1T slated for delivery soon will not receive a manual tonneau for the truck until sometime in early 2023.

Strangely, considering there’s the option of no tonneau cover, Rivian is planning to remove the integrated side rails starting in 2023. A Rivian customer service representative is quoted on the Rivian forum saying that there will be no option to retrofit a powered tonneau in the future. Either you already got your truck and have the option, or you have to wait until “the foreseeable future” is over and then configure a truck with the powered option.

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