Rivian adds compatible Tesla Superchargers to its navigation app

Rivian has added locations of compatible Tesla Superchargers to its navigation app, allowing R1S and R1T drivers to more easily find the Superchargers Tesla is opening up to EVs from other manufacturers.

The interface adds Tesla Supercharger locations both to the in-vehicle navigation and the mobile app. Rivian provided this excerpt (below) from the official update notes to EV kind of cars, clarifying that you also must download the Tesla app.

Rivian update notes on Tesla Supercharger network in navigation

This addition is part of Rivian software release 2023.10.00, although that release is still listed as an “internal beta” by an unofficial Rivian software tracker that aggregates over-the-air updates for the automaker’s vehicles.

Among other features, this update shows Tesla Supercharger sites with the Combined Charging Standard (CCS) connectors that allow Rivians and many other EVs to charge at them in the navigation app’s charger filters, and this filtering option will appear in Rivian’s mobile app.

Tesla Supercharger

Tesla last month began opening the Supercharger network to other EVs. It’s by no means the full Supercharger network, but “select” Superchargers open to CCS. It goes both ways—Tesla is also offering a CCS retrofit and an adapter for its vehicles.

To some degree, Tesla’s opening of its network to other EVs is necessary to claim some of the infrastructure funds funneled for a $7.5 billion federal EV charging network.

2023 Rivian R1S

Rivian, meanwhile, has conceived its own charging network as a backcountry counterpart to Tesla Supercharging. The remote locations where Rivian expects its customers to take their vehicles for outdoor adventures haven’t been a priority for Tesla or the major charging networks, giving the company a niche to fill that also reinforces its branding as a more rugged class of EV. But given the size of the Supercharger network, it would make sense for Rivian owners to want to utilize it.