Watch a Rivian R1T Tow a 38,000 Semi-Truck Using Clever Off-Roading Gear
![Rivian R1T tows Semi-truck out of a ditch.](https://altwhed.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1678016091_Watch-a-Rivian-R1T-Tow-a-38000-Semi-Truck-Using-Clever-780x470.png)
Where I come from, they are as good as they can pull. Well, it’s not true at all, but it looks cool. The truth is, the most popular pickup trucks can’t tow that much. However, the Rivian R1T—the new one—made headlines recently for towing something above its pay grade. Watch the Rivian R1T pull a semi-truck out of a ditch.
How much can the Rivian R1T tow?
Rivian says its monstrous 11,000 lb-ft of torque. However, with some zeal, badass recovery gear, and some luck, the Rivian R1T pulled a 38,000-pound semi-truck and trailer to the road after it got loose in the snow in southern Utah.
I reported that the owner of the electric truck, Mylo, wisely embarked on the recovery process with his Factor 55 stopper. He wrapped the off-road recovery line around the rear bumper in the semi. Next up was a 55 soft shackle operator, which he used to attach the tree guard to the motor recovery rope. The other end was attached to the Rivian using a second soft shackle.
As MotorTrend points out, this is one hell of a recovery device. For those who aren’t all about off-roading, this is a clever setup that proves Mylo’s off-road expertise.
After taking the slack off the line, Mylo gave the half a bit of traction, but the first attempt didn’t do much other than tyre. Rivian’s rig ended up in the same hole as the big rig. fail.
But when the traffic eased, Milo decided to give it to her again, this time giving her the two barrels. The Mylo electric mini-truck gave the tow rope one hell of a tug and jumped the semi-truck out of its snowy ditch. Amazingly, the Rivian’s nearly 1,000 lb-ft of torque hauled the tractor-trailer to the road—all 38,000 lb-ft of it.
How was this off-road recovery possible?
As MotorTrend noted, Rivian used its expressive torque on the spot to give the semi-infernal truck one jolt of a jump, but the Rivian’s power wasn’t enough on its own. The kinetic recovery ropes were the second and almost the most important part of this story’s success.
These recovery ropes work by converting all of Rivian’s torque into energy that uses its own momentum to move the big truck. The rope loads power from the pulp hauling truck and stores it briefly before transferring the power directly to the other truck. This method wastes a little energy.
To be clear, this was very dangerous
While Rivian will no doubt use this story as bragging rights for some time to come, as he should, this was sketchy, to say the least. The MotorTrend website says that if the section is loaded almost completely, this recovery may be three times the maximum weight of the kinematic ropes. When you put that much pressure on a line, you risk that line snapping. However, when lines containing that much energy exploded, the energy didn’t disappear. She has to go somewhere. Broken lines have a very real potential to be very dangerous.
We are certainly happy to see that Milo’s impressive recovery is going so well.