Rivian Recap: 09/18/2026

Hey there,

Here's your weekly Rivian Recap for September 18th, 2026.

The "R2our" is officially halfway done, and by the time you're reading this we should be somewhere near Salt Lake City area.

I've opted to do the smaller route due to our black lab needing ACL surgery back home and will need more care for rehab.

R2 thermals have impressed but not without question marks, the Halloween update is coming early, and the R2 lift gate is learning some new tricks.

Let's dive in!

Software

Checking out the general sentiment online about Rivian OS 2 and things seem to be a bit mixed for people.

Most people have found the same set of pros and cons that I outlined earlier, but in some cases they can be magnified for R1 customers given the different aspect ratio of the two front screens.

One of the little odd bugs that cropped up for a few users (including me) is an issue where the media/quick controls pane won't slide away.

Things like this are obviously far from the end of the world, but they are an example of some areas where OS 2 could use a little "tightening up".

In my example reply above, I resolved it by doing a an infotainment reset (pushing both halo wheels "out" and holding).

However, I was at our first fast charging stop of the trip and doing so killed the session mid way through which is... not ideal.

Overall, the software has been fairly solid though on the trip so far. With the only real bummer being that the outlets decided to not stay on powering our DOMETIC fridge one night here in Phoenix, so a few items got warmer overnight than you'd want with the risk for spoiling.

I'm not sure what made the outlets turn off, I turned them back on, switched from the 12v to the 120v, but it seems level 2 charging turns off the outlets and enabling again has been buggy.

I will have a LOT to say about the road trip overall in a recap video I will be doing after returning home, but Autonomy+ has been a bright spot.

While not flawless, the improvement over the state of Rivian driver assistance last year has been very noticeable and welcomed.

It looks like we will be getting the Halloween mode early this year so everyone can enjoy the fun for a bit longer.

The past few years, the roll out cadence for Halloween mode meant that some owners got the update on the actual day of Halloween, which really felt like a waste when so much work goes into it.

Here's the post from last years update to learn more.

I wonder what strange things will be in the neighborhood this year?

Lastly, it appears that R2 will learn a new lift gate trick.

Some new R2 owners with lower garages were finding the non-configurable lift gate height to be problematic.

I figured this would be how it is, seeing as the much more expensive R1S also doesn't allow you to set a lift gate height.

Well, if this was you, there's reason to rejoice.

Not only is it coming... but Wassym says it's coming in the next over the air update.

This is a welcome surprise, and is on par with the dual glove boxes being software lockable in terms of quality of life for the right use cases.

Hardware

Last week I mentioned that Borealis was quickly approaching for R2.

Well, the wait to place an order is officially over.

Multiple reservation holders who had been holding out for the purple color have been invited to order.

This means we are through the full set of combinations that were promised since launch, and things should be set until we get Gen3 autonomy, the Arizona sourced battery cells, and any other small running revisions.

One area of interest I had going into the road trip for R2 was related to the thermals. Both of cooling the cabin, and handling the battery.

Several people have had their heat pump unit completely fail, and it sounds like Rivian has revised versions going into new vehicles (with replacements ready for any existing ones that fail).

But when it's working? The thermal capability of R2 is dramatically improved compared to Gen2 R1 vehicles.

The audible high pitched whine is eliminated in most cases, and far less piercing when it does ramp up.

Most importantly though, it can the cabin and battery temperatures as needed.

Check out this charge curve from Quartzsite, AZ where it was 109 degrees outside on the blacktop, and it held a very similar charge curve to ideal.

Newsletter image

The only real knock on the performance here is that the heat pump did draw quite a bit of power to keep things cool in this torture test.

It not only had to keep the battery cool enough to sustain charge performance, but I pushed it harder by keeping Pet Comfort Mode engaged.

Last year, in very similar conditions in Moab, UT not only did the vehicle fail to cool the battery adequately, but there was also nearly no cooling in the cabin.

Other than the flutter audible by the interior system more than 50% of the time in our vehicle, I would call thermals a solved issue on R2.

Huzzah!

I also documented the charging experience at the very cool Joshua Tree Outpost to show what a premium charging setup can look like.

As we enter the era of abundant charging options, I expect we will see more and more "complete" charging experiences like this on the better networks.

IONNA comes to mind as a leader in this space for offering amenities that make the EV travel experience top tier.

Community

As I mentioned at the start of this weeks email, I made it to Phoenix where a few of you braved a sketchy weather forecast and joined for a small EV meetup.

Thanks to those who made it!

We lucked out and had wonderful weather after a bout of rain.

Given the dog situation, I'm heading back north through Salt Lake City and Boise before cutting over back to the Seattle area via Walla Walla.

As much as I would love to kick out to East Texas, it's just not in the cards this trip. Perhaps a future trip next year with a different route overall.

It has been really awesome meeting up with so many of you, and reconnecting with a few my fellow content friends, such as "Gjeebs" who lives in Arizona.

As well as Zak who lives near the Bay Area.

It's been a really wild 18 months or so, and I just wanted to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone here and especially those who showed up to say hi.

Worth Checking Out - VION

As my favorite sub $100 Rivian accessory, I'm excited to finally have my hands on an early VION R2 shades and it's the same quality we've come to expect.

I will have links to it for the R2 shade in the coming week or so for those who are wanting to snag one of these to keep in the frunk like I do.

While sometimes it's awesome to have an open cabin feel, getting some reprieve along with the huge benefit for a cabin that cools down dramatically faster with quieter HVAC operation is a welcome change on hot days.

VION updated their popular R1S kit that can perfectly fit the 3rd row as well now, and a gray version for light interiors.

As a subscriber to the Rivian Recap, you can get 10% off anything site wide with code "TRAVIS", on what is already a stellar product for the price.

Check out their sunshades, carbon activated air filters, and more:

VION Sunshade // VION Air Filters

My thanks to VION for helping make this newsletter possible.

Latest Deals

September has just a few tweaks to the offers, and they are exclusive to model year 2026. We do see an interest rate improvement for '26 R1 quad models.

There are still some overall price reductions available:

Check out the price reduction on R1S.

Check out the price reduction on R1T.

Here's what's sticking out for deals this week:

Dual Large (2.99% or $1.5k lease bonus) [Lease vs Buy Example]

2026 R1S Dual-Large (Premium Audio)

2026 R1T Dual-Large (Premium Audio, Utility V2 Tonneau)

Tri Max (1.99% or $1.5k lease bonus) [Lease vs Buy Example]

2026 R1S Tri-Motor

2026 R1T Tri-Motor

Quad Max (3.99%) [Lease vs Buy Example]

2026 R1S Quad-Motor