It’s almost a myth in the electric car space that these vehicles don’t roll over, so if an incident occurs when an EV rolls over, it becomes big news. Like what happened to a Rivian vehicle this past week.
Photos of a Rivian R1T on its side after it rolled over flooded social media and rivian focused forums this past week. The electric pickup’s owner, Benjamin Ponds, notes in the original Facebook post that it happened while driving through a field, adding a word of caution: “these trucks will roll easier than you’d expect them to.” Rivian then dispatched a team of engineers to investigate. Ponds or Rivian has not detailed what exactly happened that caused the vehicle to roll over. Regardless, Ponds’ R1T, which he had waited two years for, is now in a salvage yard in North Carolina, and he claims his insurance company has found him to be at fault.
Ponds stated right away that he will not reveal the details of the incident.
“I’m probably not willing to discuss the specifics of what happened, the mode the truck was in, how I was driving the truck, until Rivian figures out what they need to figure out.”
That means he isn’t giving out any information on how high the adjustable suspension was set, or whether it was in All-Purpose drive mode or something more sporty like Off-Road Rally or Off-Road Drift mode.
He did however explain rivians reaction to the issue when he reported it to the automaker.
He said it was interesting because when he did not try to blame rivian for the rollover but they sent engineers out to the incident the next day which he insists its, not something he requested.
According to him, Rivian’s response has been impressive as the engineers examined the scene of the incident and retrieved data that could help them determine why it rolled. He admits he has, “some ideas as to what could have happened,” but he’s “waiting on engineering.”
the truck is bricked” and every panel except the tailgate is damaged. You can see what he’s talking about in these images from the salvage center. Not only is its body trashed, but when the airbags deployed, a pyro fuse allegedly blew, cutting the high-voltage battery pack’s power. There’s nothing to keep the 12-volt battery charged at that point, so soon after, nothing in the R1T would turn on.
A Rivian confirmed that Rivian has been in touch with Ponds directly, analyzing the crash, and explained that Rivian’s findings won’t be released to the public.
Ponds acknowledges that Rivian has been good to work with through the process, though he claims that the R1T rolled easier than he ever expected.
Like any other vehicle, an electric car can potentially roll over if it is involved in a collision or if the driver loses control of the vehicle and it flips over. However, the likelihood of an electric car rolling over is lower than that of a gasoline-powered car because its center of gravity is way lower because of the battery of the car which is so heavy and is framed as the floor of the vehicle.
Rollover accidents can occur when a car is traveling at high speeds, such as on a highway, or when a driver takes a turn too quickly. Factors such as the weight and height of the vehicle which the rivian as a pickup truck is much taller than an EV sedan like the tesla model 3 or model s.
It is important for drivers to be aware of the potential for rollovers and to drive carefully to avoid them. This includes paying attention to the road, following the speed limit, and avoiding sharp turns or sudden lane changes.
In this incident, if was suspension was set to high, sliding sideways and the wheels dropped into a dip it won’t take much for all that weight to get catapulted up and over because of the massive momentum these vehicles carry with them. This is interesting because it means the speed at which he much has been driving it would have been incredibly fast to build up the momentum that is able to roll over the R1T
