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Rivian Confirms Paid Battery Unlocks Are Coming Later This Year
Rivian is finally letting owners unlock more range—if they’re willing to pay for it. Wassym Bensaid, Rivian’s SVP of Software, confirmed today that Large+ battery packs (which are really just software-locked Max packs) will get a paid upgrade option later this year. This likely means Standard+ owners (who actually have a locked Large pack) will get the same opportunity.
Tesla’s done this before, and now Rivian is jumping in. The good news? More range without swapping hardware. The bad news? You already have the extra capacity—you just have to pay to use it.
This comes just after news that the 2025.06 update will let R1 owners pay to boost their dual-motor powertrains to Performance specs. Clearly, Rivian is going all-in on software unlocks, whether it’s more power or more range.
No word yet on pricing, but it’ll be interesting to see how Rivian handles it. One-time fee? Subscription? Either way, it’s an easy way for Rivian to make money while letting owners get more out of their trucks.
Would you pay to unlock range or horsepower, or does it bug you that Rivian locked it in the first place?
I find it incredibly distasteful that Rivian is selling you a truck for $100,000 and is not letting you use all of its capabilities without paying even more. It eliminates any warm feelings I had about this company. Now Scaringe just seems like any other greedy CEO.
You understand this is a business, right? If you don’t like that they NEED to make a profit, don’t buy the car. I’m not sure where that leaves you though.
No, they are selling you an $80k truck that has the capabilities of the $100k truck with a simple software activation. Say you really want the $100k truck but can’t afford it at this time. Don’t wait or settle for less, buy the $80k and in a year or so when you can afford the upgrade you’ll have the $100k truck you wanted. Similar to Tesla, every car is capable of FSD, but if you didn’t pay for it then you don’t get it.
I hear you, except you never paid for the capabilities that are unlocked through these updates. People that actually bought the bigger battery, or the higher power ratings did. So what you are saying is you should get the same as those other customers, but not pay for it.
If you paid 100k, everything is unlocked with the R1S, essentially a performance dual max. If you paid $87500 for a dual Large+, then yes, you can pay more and unlock performance and access to more battery for longer range equivalent to the performance dual max or you can be happy with the capabilities that came with your purchase that was $12,500 cheaper.
Frankly, complaining about Large+ in any fashion doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. It was such a sweet deal it was a portion of the decision tree for me to upgrade from the Gen 1 Large to the Gen 2 Large+ when I did. For daily driving I get to charge the Gen 2 Large+ to 100% without being concerned around battery degradation for 330 miles of range, as opposed to charging the Gen 1 Large to 80%, to limit battery degradation, for 245 miles of range. My wife rather frequently, forgets to plug in the car at night, the additional 85 miles of daily driving range helps. For supercharging, the Large+ gets the benefit of the accelerated max battery charging curve all the way up to 100% of Large+ capacity.
Large+ was a wonderful option in the short term for customers not wanting to spend more on the Max while Rivian was building a new Large battery for the Gen 2. Rivian should get nothing but a thank you for this option that was available for a short time, additional value for free is a rarity.
You knew what you were paying for though.
I agree with William, we paid a lot of money for this truck and to not get the full benefit of the battery pack does irritate me! I’d be different if we spent $40k for a basic truck! I’ve always stood behind RIVIAN but this time it might push me over the edge
Any of the trucks costing 100k are going to already be full capacity and use except for maybe adding the performance ability to a Dual Max. This will largely affect the 70-80k range. Still expensive, but I disagree that they’re giving you capabilities that you have to pay more for to unlock. In fact, I’d be willing to bet unlocking a large+ pack will be cheaper than buying the max pack to begin with for those people.
This makes no sense. You didn’t pay for the extra capacity up front, and the company is offering you a chance to pay a deferred upcharge to get it anyway, versus not getting it at all. Or you could have bought the extra capacity up front but it would have also cost you more up front. There are really no shenanigans happening. Either you don’t understand this, or are against more choices for consumers.
I think this is a great thing for those of us who spec’d our R1S under $80k to get the EV tax credit. Our standard+ dual motor would not have qualified for it with either the performance package, large battery, or definitely not both. This deferred the (optional) cost, allowed us to get the tax credit and effectively get the performance upgrade at a discount.
Absolutely. In fact, if they bundled a Dual Standard+ to PDM Large, I would do it.
Software locks of hardware do not leave me with a good feeling about Rivian and playing this game with battery/range is borderline extortion. I’ve seen many posts of Rivian’s getting hauled away on a flatbed because they were out of juice and the owner mistimed charging stops or arrived at chargers that were out of order in cold weather. But hey, maybe they could pay $7000 on the spot to unlock more range. More of the ‘you don’t own anything’ mindset of late stage capitalism.
I don’t think that’s how it works. The Large+ is restricted on how much you can charge the battery. If you are out of juice on the side of the road, paying extra on the spot does not miraculously unlock more energy.
Hey Tron,
There’s a few reasonable explanations for a company charging more to unlock battery performance. Since Rivian warranty’s it’s vehicles for so many years, they would prefer that you the customer don’t degrade the battery by frequently overcharging it or discharging it rapidly to accelerate at high speeds. Locking the battery from being overcharged and locking faster acceleration through software helps us vehicle owners have a vehicle that lasts longer. Going zero to sixty in 3.5 seconds also kills tires, so I happily didn’t pay $3500 extra as I’m happy with my trick being locked to just zero to sixty in 4.5 seconds.
If we follow this line of thinking logically, making it the fault of the manufacturer when the results caused by the consumer are unfavorable, there would be no products ever brought to market. Or they would be so limited in scope that a manufacturer desiring to make anything easier for the consumer – and charging for it – would be frowned upon. Poor planning on the drivers’ part does not make for an emergency on the manufacturers’ part.
You don’t *have* to participate in it. You can simply ignore that the option even exists and just go buy a completely different vehicle when you want more range.
Does this mean gen 1 quad large will get extra range if paid and unlocked?
Only Gen 2 Large+ and Gen 1 Standard+ since they were software locked.
Agree with all of the previous comments. From a consumer perspective, this only hurts the brand perception. And quite significantly, as it seems for quite a lot of us. Given the state of sales, they need as many net-promoters as they can get right now.
Also—for those of us on a lease, Rivian is gonna get the cars back and then unlock everything themselves for free anyways, so they can juice the residuals for the next sell of the car. So how about just move up the timeline and give all the lessors all the unlocks for free right now? Create huge promoters for your brand, and also get the benefit of a juiced residual. Win-win situation.
These were discounted at time of sale compared to full size/performance. Seems reasonable to me.
I’m a little confused re: what a “large+” battery pack is. I’m shopping for an R1S. If I order a dual motor “large” pack, can I later upgrade it?
Right now, Rivian occasionally offers the Large+ but the hard part is on the website it isn’t called out. Otherwise in the vehicle, it’ll tell you in the settings.
Thanks. Wish they’d tell you when you bought it! Saving a few K to wait and see if really need the extra range would be nice.
In settings what am I looking for?
Under About you’ll see the battery type
Good business move. Rivian could have chosen to *only* offer the higher range/power – at the higher price. Those who are willing to pay for it, do, others are out of luck.
This gives customers more choice, without Rivian having to manufacture different SKUs. And it is Rivian accepting the risk. The cost of the car is the same, so Rivian gets lower margins on the lower range/performance sales. They hope to upsell, but don’t force it on the initial sale.
More choice for customers, no service center visit required (huge plus), and Rivian pays the price if they are wrong. All wins for the customer.
What about customers having to carry around the extra weight of a battery they’re software locked out of? Is that a win for the customer too?
Customer wins too, because in reality they can charge daily to 100%.
^THIS. F CEOs and their henchmen!
They get the range they paid for so carrying the extra weight is a moot point. Sorry you aren’t happy with their decision.
They unlocked enough capacity at the outset to offset the additional weight so that the advertised EPA rated range would be consistent between Large & Large+. A Large+ has 120.5kWh unlocked whereas a “standard” Large only has 108.5kWh. Please do some research before spouting off.
In British Columbia, almost every Rivian is over $125K which jumps it from 15% tax to 20% so this option of getting to purchase some features with a separate transaction helps with the tax. Rivian can still get their money with the customer not having to pay that extra 5% on 125K or more. I got the Rivian I almost wanted over a year ago knowing that I would be able to upgrade at some point. We actually had to swap wheels at purchase to keep the cost under the line
Similarly to the Tonneau fiasco I hope to get that installed soon
If it’s an option upon purchase and the buyer is made aware that the truck is capable of extended but limited to standard range. To make it more affordable at purchase time. Okay. I can see that.
Some people will never use or need the extended range. Why should they pay. On the other hand. Those who do need it can pay for it and get it. Those who get stuck on the side of the road due to miscalculations or broken chargers should be able to call rivian and request an override due to an extreme emergency. That should be a service provided by the company to assist customers. Even if it’s a 4hr override to get the customer to a good place and charge up.
What bugs me is owning the R1T since 2022 without a tonneau cover and when I reach out about information regarding when it be available no one has any answers.
People, this is a feature. By having a bigger battery that you can’t use, you mitigate battery degradation.
Does this mean that a software locked Standard+ or Large+ can be regularly charged to 100%?
Yes!
I think it is very heartbreaking to know about companies cheap strategies to make money. Feeling sorry that I was one of the first costumers to book R1s
The hate for this is crazy. I bought a Tesla 60D in 2016 because the upgrade to 75D was somewhere around $5-6k for not too much more range. That meant I could charge to near 100% each day with no worries and saved a good amount of money. Then about 18 months later they offered me the option to software unlock to 75D for like $1900….big savings from before so I took it. Plus I was able to put that on a points credit card.
I managed to snag a large+ battery on my R1S and am looking forward to seeing what the price is to unlock more range. I am willing to bet it will be less than the $7k upgrade it would have been when new.
Anything that helps Rivian make money from people willing to pay, and isn’t a secret/scam seems to make sense.
Consumers can turn this around on Rivian. If, for battery health you normally only charge to a max of 80% consider that this is not 80% of the physical battery but only 80% of what the software lets you see. So charge your Large+ to 100% and know that it’s not 100% of the actual battery because it’s really a Max Pack. Unlock the remaining 20% of range yourself. If you bought the Max Pack upgrade and then charge to only 80% that’s probably similar to 100% of the Large+.
Upper and lower limits for battery charge are being set for a reason and are directly related to the degradation of the battery. “Unlocking” the longer range means setting the upper limit (100% charge) higher, lover limit (0% charge) lower, or both. This means that those who will choose to purchase this service will not only get more range or more power but will also get a faster degrading battery as a bonus.
Thanks for the tip on extended range. I will wait for the aftermarket software hackers to unlock it for less.
Wow! Why does Rivian need to screw fhe customer more than they already have? Lying to them upfront about capacity then saying ohh well. You want to pay, we will let you use something you already paid for. They are dirty and that is not sustainable. They will fail.
Maybe they should unlock more of the battery capability to offset battery degradation over time… I’m not a lawyer but I wonder perhaps if there is a legal argument here?
You purchased the vehicle knowing what the specs were. If you wanted more then you should have purchased the model with more features. You got what you paid for.
It’s innovative thinking, a smart visionary (RJ and Team RIVIAN). We pay for the subscription of the infotainment system true; therefore, why not allow a subscription of a MAX battery, as needed for those of us that travel more than the average driver.🚙🛻
I’m a little concerned about paying for a high-end rig finding out I could get a lot more distance but now I have to pay for it. That seems wrong to me.
I’m a little concerned about paying for a high-end rig finding out I could get a lot more distance but now I have to pay for it. That seems wrong to me.