It’s fitting that Alex Honnold has teamed up with Rivian Automotive. Rivian touts its automobiles as ‘the world’s first electric adventure vehicles.’ And Honnold is, of course, one of the foremost adventurers of our time.
Late last night, Dec. 20, Alex Honnold announced on his social media athlete pages that he would be collaborating with Rivian. This is what he had to say:
“I’ve been wanting to go electric for years now but haven’t felt like there was quite the right option for my lifestyle. I’m so excited that @rivianofficial is making an electric vehicle that’s rugged enough to handle the rough dirt roads that access all my local climbing areas. I know there are a lot of us out there who have been wanting this exact thing. Check out the Rivian page for more details — pretty excited to share more of our collaboration soon.”
Local Climbing Adventures
As Alex said in his collaboration announcement, he’ll be using his Rivian “to handle the rough dirt roads that access all my local climbing areas.” With full-time all-wheel drive, over 14 inches of ground clearance, and a water-fording depth of over 3 feet, Alex shouldn’t have a problem getting to any crag he wishes.
Getting to the crag in the Rivian could also be a quick endeavor, as performance numbers are reported to be 3.2-second 0-60 mph and a top speed of 125 mph. Depending on the battery pack, the Rivian R1T is also reported to get a 230- to 400-mile range. That kind of range can easily you to crags hundreds of miles away — and back again.
Can Alex Ditch Van Life?
Interestingly, Honnold’s vehicle choice caused quite a stir on social media. He posted another, larger explanation about the truck today:
While the Rivian will be Alex’s local adventure vehicle, we can’t see him ditching van life. It’s just so perfectly suited to a professional climber’s life on the road. Besides, where would Alex hang his fingerboard on the Rivian R1T?
Maybe, just maybe, Alex won’t have to ditch the van to partner with Rivian. All Rivian vehicles shown so far, the truck and SUV, are built on a “skateboard platform.” This type of construction means the brand can build a wide range of vehicles on a single base platform. Could the next vehicle in Rivian’s production queue be an adventure van?!?!
Just Electrified Vaporware?
Both the Rivian R1T truck and R1S SUV are still vaporware in the eyes of the automotive world. The brand has announced the vehicles, production dates, and pricing as well as shown concept vehicles. There is, however, no real-world data or history that proves Rivian can pull off its lofty goals just yet.
This high-profile collaboration with Alex Honnold gives us more hope that the electrified adventure vehicle of our dreams is actually very close to reality. Rivian claims that the first R1Ts will be delivered to customers in late 2020. And Honnold gets to try it out before anyone else.
“For clarity, this is a pre-production vehicle and Alex will have access to our products in 2019,” the brand told GearJunkie.
