Rivian designs a reduction gear for electric off-roaders

Rivian has come up with an original solution enabling its electric cars to boost torque on a per-wheel basis, The Drive reports citing a patent filing. It is akin to the reduction gear commonly used in serious overlanding vehicles, and it looks like the owners will be able to retrofit their existing cars at dealerships if desired.

The marque’s electric cars come equipped with quad electric motors each rotating one wheel. This allows for a more precise distribution of torque, but the company decided to research an upgrade for particularly challenging off-road conditions. The issue is, motors are known to overheat when driving over steep rocky slopes or towing heavy trailers, for example. A reduction mechanism would be able to address this issue – and it looks like Rivian intends to implement it in its production cars.

The unit can be installed in the car at the factory, replacing some standard drivetrain parts. In addition to the range group with a 5:1 reduction ratio, all motorized wheels will get a reduction row actuator and an individual heat exchanger to minimize the odds of overheating.

It is unknown at this time what kind of torque will be attainable with the gear reduction. Both the R1S SUV and the R1T truck command 835 PS (824 hp / 614 kW) and 1,220 Nm (900 lb-ft) in their current spec, but more affordable versions are coming soon.