“The last thing we want,” Rivian’s design boss Jeff Hammoud told me as we toured the company’s California design studio, “is for people to get into an R2 and say, ‘this is just a cheaper version of the R1.'”
That’s the interesting thing about the 2026 Rivian R2. To hit its much-touted eventual $45,000 starting price—about half the cost of a well-equipped dual-motor R1S—Rivian could have simply downsized and stripped out its flagship SUV. Instead, company officials say, the R2 signals what’s next: an all-new electric-vehicle platform with new batteries, new drive units, and a path toward more advanced automated driving tech.
2026 Rivian R2 Prototype Drive Photo by: Patrick George
“The guiding principle that we had for the R2 is how to deliver a product that keeps the same DNA of the Rivian brand, everything that resonated with our customers, but at a lower price point,” said software chief Wassym Bensaid.
But Rivian executives said the R2 is far from a clean break from what came before. In fact, much of this new electric SUV was shaped by lessons learned from what existing R1S and R1T customers liked, and what they didn’t—and it shows how EV design is evolving after years of real-world data.
‘A Ton Of Efficiencies’ And Easier Service
2026 Rivian R2 Prototype Drive
Photo by: Patrick George
The R2, executives said, aims to be a better EV than the R1S and R1T were, not just a smaller one.
“There’s a ton of engineering efficiencies that went into R2 designs,” chief engineer Max Koff said. “R2, compared to R1, is over 2,000 pounds lighter. It’s sportier, more dynamic, more agile.”
In order to get material and labor costs down, Rivian engineers were laser-focused on reducing the number of parts involved and finding ways for some parts to serve multiple roles. The R2’s bill of materials—the total list of raw materials and components needed to manufacture the final vehicle—is about 50% that of the R1 models. Perhaps most famously, the R2 has 2.3 fewer miles of wiring throughout than the second-generation R1 models, representing a significant cost-cut.
Rivian R2 Body Photo by: Patrick George
Koff said that new structural members are made with high-pressure diecasts, “So that basically consolidates what would be a ton of different stamped and welded components into one smaller, lighter, more compact design. This improves our efficiency, decreases mass, and it helps us from a tolerance perspective.” The R2’s body alone is 200 pounds lighter than the R1 models, and 23% stiffer overall.
The R2’s new 4695 cylindrical battery cells, supplied by Korean battery giant LG Energy Solution, are also a step up, Koff said. “It’s a much bigger cell. That means more energy per cell to get to the same energy volume. It also means fewer welds when we’re connecting them all.”
A number of electronic control units—the battery management system, the DC-AC converter and so on—have been consolidated into one location on this new platform. Fewer parts, Koff said, but also easier repairability. “Anytime you need to service those components, you don’t have to drop the [battery] pack. You just lift up the rear seat, and get access to everything,” Koff said. And several previously separate control units for the infotainment system have been consolidated into one.
Glove Boxes Are Back On The R2—So Are Tissues And Purses
Rivian R2 Glove Boxes
Photo by: Rivian
Perhaps frustratingly, the R1 models have no traditional glove box on the passenger side, but rather a storage compartment in the center console. This came down to packaging decisions: that space is used for other components instead, as is the case on other EVs, like the Toyota bZ.
Rivian is now making up for lost time by adding two boxes to the R2. This isn’t exactly news, but Hammoud admitted it was a direct result of customer feedback. “People really like a glove box,” Hammoud said. This influenced future design and engineering decisions: “We packaged the vehicle and all the electrical components and made sure to build into that.”
2026 Rivian R2 Prototype Drive Photo by: Patrick George
The R2 keeps the slide-out center console as well. But that’s designed to fit the other thing customers insisted on: a tissue box. “Through some research, we had our customers saying, ‘I never have a place for a full-sized tissue box, so that fits perfectly in there.”
Rivian R2 vs. R1 Photo by: Patrick George
Also, by moving the air vents from below the screen to run along the dash, Rivian’s designers kept room for a purse or a handbag—another highly requested feature. “We decided to keep it this way because of the storage opportunities and listening to our customers, especially our female customers, who really like that center area to be able to put down their bag,” Hammoud said.
More Room For Your Giant Water Bottles, Too
It is no secret that automakers are struggling to adapt to the era of the Stanley water bottle. The Big Gulp was one thing; the Quencher-level tumblers are a whole other issue. This sort of thing posed a tricky challenge for Rivian: how do you design an R2 that’s smaller in every dimension than the R1S, when customers are actually asking for more space?
“How can we minimize things, but still provide a lot of unique storage opportunities?” Hammoud said. “When we were designing the door, we added additional storage that we didn’t have on R1.” The door has been heavily redesigned for more traditional storage, including a space for big water bottles.
That included moving the stereo speakers out of the door entirely and into the center console, which Hammoud said actually improves audio performance and decreases vibrations. (Rivian is also due to redesign its door handles amid wider safety concerns in the EV space as of late, according to reports.)
Rivian Software, 2.0
In all my years spent testing cars, electric or otherwise, I still tend to think Tesla’s software game is the strongest—outside of China, anyway. But Rivian is catching up quickly. The automaker is extremely proactive at adding new software features with over-the-air updates, helped along by vertical integration that allows more direct control of various components than traditional car companies can achieve.
2026 Rivian R2 Prototype Drive
Photo by: Patrick George
But Rivian officials say the R2 is an even bigger step-up, software-wise. “We are addressing some of the feedback that we heard from customers, some of the pain points you see on a daily basis,” Bensaid told me. Right now, he said, you can “slide right” on the screen to bring up a media menu. “We changed the architecture of the operating system so that now we have much more motions, and we have the possibility to slide right, but then also slide left.”
This isn’t just an aesthetic change, Bensaid said; it’s now just easier to reach things when you’re driving. They also added something they call a “fish stick” internally: a bar off to the side that serves as a shortcut for key functions.
Getting feedback from current Rivian owners was crucial, Hammoud said, especially since the automaker is prioritizing existing R1 owners for R2 deliveries. But their experiences also served as vital data as Rivian tries to reach new audiences. And if you want something specific from Rivian, then Hammoud let me in on the trick.
“We have a very active Reddit community where we get a lot of feedback,” he said. “We even joke, ‘if you want to get a feature implemented, go complain about it on Reddit.'”
Contact the author: patrick.george@insideevs.com
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