Rivian offers a new dynamic roof option for its second-generation R1S and R1T vehicles. It’s a fantastic option for those who want a little extra privacy or are looking to add a little wow factor to their vehicles.
The Dynamic Glass Roof delivers the ultimate flexibility, allowing you to switch seamlessly between privacy mode and panoramic views of the world above your Rivian — all at the touch of a button.
Price
The Dynamic Glass Roof is an option for both the R1S and the R1T and costs the same on both vehicles. In the United States, it is $1,500 USD, while in Canada it goes for $2,200 CAD. In turn, you receive an electro-chromatic glass roof which can change between tinted and clear at the press of a button. In the future, Rivian can even switch it automatically based on whether the vehicle is locked, the outside temperature, or the time of day.
Electro-Chromatic Glass
The electro-chromatic glass takes about 10 seconds to dim, and 5 seconds to brighten up. The shading is lighter on the inside than on the outside. When you look from above, with the roof dimmed, it is almost completely black, with little to no light leakage.
When the roof is brightened up, it is fairly transparent, but slightly less so than a regular glass roof. It’s comparable to a roof with a very light tint when in transparent mode.
How It Works
If you’re curious about how it works, the glass roof has an electro-chromic film sandwiched between glass layers. This film is best used in flat applications, and when it is energized, the particles in the film change direction, allowing the transparency of the glass to change alongside it. It’s a very cool application of physics, and Rivian has done an excellent job integrating it into their vehicles.
Heat Rejection
If you were hoping to pick up the roof for its heat rejection properties, you’ll find this data helpful. While the dynamic glass roof does offer some heat rejection when in privacy mode, it’s minimal. Most of the light and heat that enters a Rivian instead comes through the windshield and the driver and front passenger windows – which are not tinted heavily due to laws around North America.
For jurisdictions where tinting the windshield and front windows is legal, and you’re looking to keep your vehicle considerably cooler, you’re better off tinting those two versus picking up Rivian’s Dynamic Glass Roof.
The Dynamic Glass Roof, when shaded, lets in about 1/3rd of the light as regular glass, but that’s insignificant compared to the amount the windshield and front windows let in. This table, summarized by @Hook_K, provides additional details.
Surface
Watt/m2
Dynamic Glass Roof (Opaque)
10.9
Dynamic Glass Roof (Transparent)
14.0
Panoramic Roof
28.7
Windshield
506.3
Front Side Windows
400.3
Rear Side Windows
116.0
While the Dynamic Glass Roof does indeed provide slight benefits over the standard panoramic roof for heat rejection, it's not a whole lot when you compare it to the heat that comes in through the windshield or front windows.
We’d consider the glass roof an excellent option to keep a bit more of the sun out of your passenger’s eyes and provide you with a bit of privacy if you drive in a city regularly, where there are many places to see inside from above. We’d also recommend it if you love seeing that electro-chromatic glass change from dim to transparent, which is a cool experience.
While Rivian’s dynamic glass roof is a great option, it should be looked at more as a privacy-focused, fun feature rather than a way to keep heat out of your vehicle.
Rivian transitioned to their second-generation vehicles in 2025. One of the goals with their second-gen vehicles was to reduce vehicle costs, so one of the changes was to reduce battery options for these new models.
Rivian slimmed down its battery pack choices by reducing them from four options to three. Instead of offering Standard, Standard+, Large, and Max battery sizes, they now only offer Standard, Large, and Max batteries packs.
However, to reduce complexity further, initial production runs only had two battery sizes — Standard and Max. For customers who ordered a Rivian with a large battery pack, Rivian actually included a Max battery pack software limited to the range of a Large battery. These vehicles were coined as Large+ (Plus) batteries by the community, and Rivian soon adopted the name.
Advantages of a Large+ Battery
For customers who have a software-locked Max battery, there are several perks. Normally, with a lithium nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) battery, you’d want to avoid charging the vehicle to 100% on a daily basis to prevent premature aging. However, with a software-locked Max battery, customers can actually charge to 100% since the vehicle will stop charging once it hits 100% of the “large” battery.
A Max battery pack can store 140 kWh while a Large is 108.5 kWh, so charging to 100% on a Large+ battery is equivalent to charging to just 78% on a Max battery pack. This lets customers continuously take advantage of their vehicle’s full range without any ill effects on battery degradation — a really nice perk.
However, there’s more. According to Wassym Bensaid, Rivian’s Chief Software Officer, Rivian will soon offer customers the ability to unlock the full benefit of the Max battery pack, essentially purchasing the Max battery after the fact.
This is a really nice option, as some customers may discover they could use the extra range, especially as their battery degrades slowly over the years. It’s not a must-have, but having the option is a great addition.
How to Tell If You Have a Large+ Battery
If you’re not sure if your vehicle has a Large+ battery, you can tell by going to your vehicle settings. Your vehicle should have about 300 miles of range. If it has about 250 miles or 400 miles fully charged, then you have a Standard or Max battery pack.
To check if you have a Large or Large+ battery pack, you’ll need to be in your vehicle and navigate to Settings (gear icon), then tap on the About menu item on the left. You’ll see a rendered model of your vehicle and directly underneath, you’ll see your model, which includes the battery pack size. You should see either Large or Large Plus in the model description.
What You Get By Unlocking
We previously dived deep into Rivian’s battery options for both its Gen 1 and Gen 2 R1 series vehicles, but in short, you can expect your Rivian’s range to increase to the same level as a vehicle with a Max battery pack when unlocking the full capacity of the Max battery.
This will take your Rivian R1S or R1T from about 330 miles of range (531 km) to about 420 miles (676 km), depending on the model.
Range Increase
Model
Large/Large+
Max (Dual Motor)
R1T
330 mi / 531 km
420 mi / 676 km
R1S
330 mi / 531 km
410 mi / 660 km
R1S
Large/Large+
Max (Dual Motor)
330 mi / 531 km
410 mi / 660 km
Price to Unlock Max Battery
While Rivian hasn’t announced the price to unlock the Large+ battery’s full potential, expect it to cost about $6,000. This is the same price as purchasing the Max battery pack at the time of configuring your vehicle, so don’t expect a discount, at least initially.
It’s possible as these vehicles get older, Rivian realizes that people may not want to buy a $6,000 add-on for a 5 or 10-year-old vehicle, and at that point, they may consider lowering the price.
Performance Upgrade: Rivian recently announced the ability to purchase the Performance option for dual motor vehicles as well, so owners of Large+ battery packs can double dip and get the Max battery pack and unlock the Performance version of their vehicle as well. Rivian priced the Performance software upgrade at $5,000, which is also the same price as getting it from the factory.
How to Unlock Large+
While the ability to unlock your Large+ battery pack isn’t available yet, expect the upgrade option to be available in the Rivian app and in the vehicle — similar to the Performance upgrade.
Release Date
Wassym didn’t say when the software battery unlock would arrive, but it seems that it will be coming as part of a future OTA update, which will bring the purchase option to your Rivian. Just like with the Dual Performance upgrade, you’ll be able to use Rivian Reward credits towards the unlock as well.
When purchasing a new Dual Motor Rivian, you might have considered the Performance option, which was offered as a $5,000 upgrade at the time of ordering. However, Rivian is now offering the Performance upgrade as an in-app or in-car purchase for Dual Motor R1S and R1T owners.
The Performance upgrade boosts the vehicle’s horsepower and torque, while also introducing new driving modes.
Features
The Dual Motor Performance upgrade adds additional features to the R1S and R1T vehicles, with the most notable being a major performance boost.
This upgrade increases both horsepower and torque, reducing the 0 to 60 mph time from 4.5 seconds to an impressive 3.4 seconds.
In addition to the power boost, the upgrade introduces new driving modes: Sport, Soft Sand, and Rally. Each mode adds specialized capabilities—Sport for track performance, Rally for off-road adventures, and Soft Sand for tackling sandy terrains.
The Performance upgrade is available for Gen 1 and Gen 2 vehicles.
Config
Dual Motor
Dual Motor Performance
Horsepower
533 hp
655 hp
0-60 mph / 0-100 km/h
4.6 seconds
3.5 seconds
Torque
610 lb-ft
829 lb-ft
Launch Mode Reserved for Tri and Quad
Even if you’re familiar with the roller-coaster-like feeling of launching an EV, the performance upgrade is going to be a big step up, and it’ll be a useful upgrade for off-roading too. The noticeable increase in horsepower not only helps you launch with more power but also makes crawling over rocks or pushing through water more effortless.
However, for owners hoping to take their R1 series vehicles to the track, there’s something to keep in mind—this upgrade, just like buying a Dual Motor Performance model, doesn’t include Launch Mode. That feature is only reserved for the Tri and Quad configurations.
Price
If you’re craving a bit more power or want to relive the thrill of launching your Rivian for the first time, the Performance upgrade is likely a great choice. It adds over 120 horsepower, giving you about a 25% boost in performance.
The upgrade costs $5,000 USD / $7,000 CAD, whether purchased over-the-air or at the factory. If you own a Dual Motor Rivian, you can easily buy it through the app or the vehicle itself, available with software update 2024.06 or later.
