Rivian has reportedly started installing the redesigned power tonneau cover for the R1T all-electric pickup, according to a Rivian Forums user who had the new cover fitted to his truck last week.
The news comes more than a year after the Normal, Illinois-based EV maker suspended production of the original powered cover because it tended to break, so a redesign was in order.
As per the original poster, the new and improved tonneau still uses one motor but it has an updated spring system to prevent the panels from getting out of alignment, as well as an updated bottom panel system. The guts and gearing of the mechanism have also been reinforced, and there are several tweaks that help keep the slats and gears clean.
Video source: ColoradoAdventure / Rivian Forums
The new power tonneau cover isn’t in the gear shop just yet and pricing hasn’t been announced. There’s also a $1,800 manual cover that R1T owners can grab from Rivian–this one comes with a zipper bag that fits neatly in the pickup’s unique Gear Tunnel.
We got in touch with Rivian to confirm if the power tonneau is shipping country-wide and to ask for additional details. We’ll update this story when we hear back.
When the original electric cover debuted, it quickly became one of the most criticized things about the Rivian R1T because it was loud and eventually got jammed, defeating its purpose. In October of last year, the American automaker stopped making it altogether and then, in May of this year, the redesigned version–along with its manual counterpart–was showcased by Rivian’s CEO RJ Scaringe.
Back then, both options were supposed to ship during the summer, but only the manual cover started shipping in June, while the powered variant needed several more months to get to customers.
As for the new version of the powered cover, some forum users said it sounds exactly like their original covers and wondered what actually changed with the update. I guess we’ll know more when we hear back from Rivian.