A storm can test many things—a man’s patience, a home’s foundation, and, in this case, the resilience of an electric truck.
When Hurricane Helene ripped through North Carolina, it didn’t only test homes and resolve; it also tested the toughness Rivian’s R1T, which emerged as the unlikely hero.
The owner of the affected truck explained how the incident occurred in a Facebook video uploaded by Joshua Vincent Sauer.
He said he parked his truck near the Swannanoa River in Asheville, expecting a typical storm. However, it didn’t come that way. When he returned home after the storm, his truck had been swept 150 feet from where he had left it, buried up to its roof in mud. The river had flooded, swallowing everything in its path, including his R1T.
He expected the worst. He’d braced himself for a total loss, convinced that the muddy waters had ruined the truck’s electric heart. As he approached, a surprise greeted him: the R1T’s door handles popped out, as if to say, “Ready when you are!”.
After a quick windshield clean-up, he powered up the R1T, and it came to life without a hitch. It drove like it had never been in the flood at all. Mud-caked, sure, but resilient! He made it to an open Electrify America station, charged up, and shared his story.
The R1T’s durability wasn’t a stroke of luck. Rivian’s battery packs are sealed, weatherproof, and tested to withstand the elements. Salt spray, mud, and water are all part of the test to ensure that these electric trucks can handle whatever the road throws at them. Still, as experts caution, driving through floodwaters is never a good idea, no matter how sealed a vehicle’s battery is. The world can be unpredictable, and no car is truly built to float.
Yet, that might not be far from the truth. According to a former Rivian employee, the R1T and its sibling, the R1S SUV, are filled with foam—about one-third of the vehicle’s interior is designed for noise dampening and durability. Anytime a truck squeaks or picks up road noise, it goes back for more foam. Around the factory, there was a running joke: drive one of these into a lake, and it might just float!
Foam or not, the story underscores Rivian’s design philosophy—an electric truck built to endure. Strong, weatherproof, rugged yet refined.
The R1T’s performance during Hurricane Helene shows that sometimes the biggest test of a vehicle isn’t on the open road but in the raw, unforgiving elements. The R1T passed with flying colors.
Just don’t go driving it into any lakes. Some jokes are best left untested!