Rivian goes the extra mile for R1T owner helping Hurricane Helene survivors
The story of the Rivian R1T that survived the wrath of Hurricane Helene has only gotten a lot more heartwarming. As it turns out, Rivian would go the extra mile to make sure that the R1T owner had a fully working all-electric pickup truck in the aftermath of the deadly storm.
As noted by Michael Cusick in a previous interview, he had parked his Rivian across the street from a U-Haul in Asheville on Swannanoa River Road before Helene hit the city. Following the storm, he looked for his R1T and discovered that the vehicle had been washed away by floodwaters about 100-150 feet, and it was covered all over in thick mud. Much to his surprise, the R1T’s interior was completely undamaged and the vehicle was still working.
In a post on social media platform X, Cusick noted that shortly after retrieving his Rivian, he proceeded to use his R1T to help clear roads, deliver supplies, and operate as a generator to run a food truck that provides free hot meals. Despite this, Cusick knew that his R1T, named Vivian, needed to be serviced to make sure she was really undamaged. However, Rivian’s closest service center was too far, and he did not want to leave his community hanging.
Shortly after retrieving my vehicle I started using it to clear roads, deliver supplies, and operate as a generator to run the food truck we were giving out free hot meals from. Vivian had been through hell and needed to be serviced to insure there was no unseen damage to the… pic.twitter.com/eZXzeoDoc9
— Michael Cusick (@chessforgiants) October 9, 2024
Quite remarkably, Rivian proceeded to intervene in the most remarkable way possible. As noted by Cusick, Rivian delivered a loaner vehicle—a quad-motor R1T with all-terrain tires—to him so that his all-electric pickup truck could be thoroughly checked and serviced. This allowed him to continue helping his community while his R1T was being serviced by the company. Cusick described the experience as follows.
“Leadership at Rivian acted quickly, delivering a very capable R1T quad motor with all terrains directly to Asheville and took Vivian back for service. This has allowed me to continue to serve my community with no interruption. It's very rare to see an automotive company not only care about their customers but show true compassion for those affected by natural disasters like Hurricane Helene. These actions speak volumes about the character of leadership over at Rivian,” the R1T owner wrote in his post.
Kudos to Rivian for going the extra mile for Michael and his R1T!
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