Rivian Confirms R2 Charging Port Relocated For Compatibility

In a comment to RivianTrackr on X (formerly Twitter), Rivian has confirmed that the charging port on the upcoming R2 SUV has been relocated to the rear driver side of the vehicle.

Summary

The R2’s charging port will be moved to the rear driver side from it’s originally planned rear passenger side. This change was made to more easily integrate with Tesla’s Supercharger network, which was begun opening up to other manufacturers for use.

Background

When the R2 was announced in Spring 2024, it was unveild to have a native NACS port. NACS is a new North American standard for charging ports that was invented by Tesla. As such, all Tesla vehicles since the first Model S have had this port on the rear driver side of the vehicle, and Superchargers were designed with this in mind.

A point of contention for Tesla, Rivian, and Ford owners has been the location of the charging port on 3rd party vehicles that are now allowed to use the Superchargers. Since these other vehicles tend to have the charging port on the front driver side of the vehicle, for some vehicles it requires taking up two parking spots in order to charge.

With the R2 being one of the first vehicles to have the NACS port, it was a bit of a head-scratcher that they did not also follow Tesla’s convention on charging port placement, as this would have led to the exact same double-parking issue. The cited reason for this was that it simplified charging when parallel parking, but this was not a good enough reason for many in the community.

Thankfully, Rivian revealed the R2 early enough that they were able to gather feedback from the community, and they were conscious enough of the concerns to make the change before production began.

Conclusion

Considering the sizable advantage in both mindshare and infrastructure that Tesla has in the EV space, it’s a smart move for Rivian to make this change. The Supercharger network is consistenly hailed as one of the best parts of owning a Tesla due to it’s speed and availability. R2 owners will now be able to take advantage of this network without causing any inconvenience to other drivers, which is a win for everyone.