Rivian’s electric R1T is building up a reputation for itself as the go-to rescue truck. In a video posted to social media by Rivian boss RJ Scaringe we can see one of the American-built pickups coming to the aid of an industrial truck that’s way heavier than the R1T’s official tow rating.
The video appears to take place on some kind of construction site and opens with a view of the rear of the Rivian and a glimpse of a large trailer ahead of it. But it’s only when the rescue is completed and the sheer enormity of the recovered vehicle is revealed that we can appreciate exactly how well the R1T has done.
Once the Rivian has had a couple of light tugs on the tow strap to take up the slack it begins to move smoothly backwards with no visible tire slip despite the dust on the road. We can’t see exactly why the truck was stuck in the first place, but the R1T has to pull it up a fairly major incline and makes the entire job as effortless as if it was pulling a tiny, unladed dirt bike trailer.
Related: Here’s How Far A Rivian R1T Can Tow 10,000 Lbs In Freezing Temperatures
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— RJ Scaringe (@RJScaringe) October 6, 2023
Thanks to M. Isaac! pic.twitter.com/5qnDPBQjzq
The R1T is available with up to 908 lb-ft (1,231 Nm) of torque in its most potent quad-motor configuration and has an official towing capacity of 11,000 lbs (4,990 kg). But the load it hauled in this video exceeds that many times over. CEO Scaringe was obviously proud to repost the video on his own X feed, but we wonder whether Rivian’s warranty department might be less enthusiastic about the rescue (fortunately the R1T’s plate is blanked out, and hopefully before Rivian got its hands on the vid).
This isn’t the first time we’ve see an R1T extract a huge vehicle from a sticky situation. Back in February another video emerged of a Rivian pulling an 11,000 lbs (17,240 kg) semi trailer back onto the asphalt after it had run off the road and got stuck in snow-covered dirt.