Yesterday was a lot of family and noise at my house. It was great, but eventually, I had to seek out a quiet moment. Of course, at that moment I looked at my phone. I’m working to lower my cell phone use. I am not doing great at it.

I’m thankful I did because Rivian gave us a holiday present too.

What makes this video great, is that it is a one hundred percent usable feature. The ability of the R1T to turn in its length in an off-road setting is useful. If you have ever had to back down a trail because the way forward was blocked, this is a useful feature.

It isn’t a feature than another EV company could quickly adapt. The R1T/R1S skateboard platform uses four electric motors for all four wheels. The motors drive each side of the truck’s wheels in a separate direction. This causes the motion of the truck to effectively rotate in its own length.

Tesla uses a dual-motor setup to create their version of all-wheel-drive. The Cybertruck will use the dual-motor system and has a theoretical tri-motor system for maximum output. Theoretical because it doesn’t exist yet. This is a feature that Tesla might be able to mimic through software. There are all-wheel-drive Subarus that can create the same type of donuts, but they generally enter with more speed, noise, and chaos.

Electric Games

Automakers create their own games to present their vehicles. That’s part of the reason the Internet was frustrated with the Cybertruck tug-of-war. The automaker makes the game. If you then have to cheat the game to make it look better, then that is a marketing fail. The tank turn is a logical step for the adventure EV company. It’s on-brand, no apparent cheating, and no one else can copy it quickly. They also released the video when all of us were staring at our phones to get a break from family. The Rivian marketing team did great on this one.

Check out these sweet Ford ads from the 70s & 80s. Yes, I’m aware that Ford has a collaboration deal with Rivian.

Hooniverse recently posted that Rivian has secured $2.85 billion dollars of investment capital. The electric adventure vehicle company is looking to begin customer delivery of R1T and R1S vehicles in 2020.