Most weekdays, four strangers ride in Anthony’s R1S with him. Where he lives, this is normal.
He participates in slugging, the informal carpool system that's operated in the D.C. area for decades: drivers pick up commuters heading the same direction, commuters get a free ride and drivers get access to HOV lanes. Anthony typically picks up two passengers in the morning and two more in the evening. “It's a win-win,” he says. “They get a free ride to work and I get to ride in the HOV lanes and shorten my commute by 45 minutes.”
He calls his R1S “The Rivian Slug.”
Over the course of a year, that adds up, both in time saved and in Rivian ride-alongs. By his count, it comes to roughly 800 to 900 in-vehicle Rivian experiences.
What Anthony didn't expect was how much curiosity the vehicle would generate. “Nearly every passenger I've carried has been experiencing a Rivian in person for the first time,” he says. The questions tend to repeat: what it's actually like to own one, how service works, what’s his range, where he charges, what it costs, whether an EV is practical day to day.
“I answer candidly from my experience as an owner,” he says.
Whatever comes of each conversation, twice a day, on one of the region's most-traveled commuter routes, Anthony’s R1S is quietly doing double duty. Thanks, Anthony, for spreading the word one slug at a time.
