Rivian’s upcoming electric pickup truck made it onto the road earlier than expected. It was spotted saving the day in South America in the third episode of the new Apple TV+ documentary series, Long Way Up.
In the show premiering Friday, actor Ewan McGregor and his buddy Charley Boorman attempt to ride from the southern tip of Argentina through Latin America all the way to Los Angeles — on electric motorcycles. The duo’s support, equipment, and film crews are all in battery-powered vehicles: the first two all-electric, road-ready Rivian trucks.
Their 13,000-mile journey highlights the challenges of going electric while traveling through South America. As seen in the clip above, the actor grabs onto the side of the not-yet-available truck and is towed to a departing ferry while sitting on his electric Harley-Davidson. The e-motorcycle only has about 100-mile range.
The first episode (filmed back in 2019) explains how the show worked with Rivian to supply the electric pickups for the series’ film crew ahead of mass production. The R1T electric truck is expected to have 400 miles of range and goes on sale for $70,500 (to start), but not until the end of this year. Rivian also has an electric SUV coming out.
For the series, Rivian built 150 new charging stations along McGregor and Boorman’s route since there are “hardly any charging points” in the 13 countries they cross, as Rivian’s CEO RJ Scaringe pointed out.
Long Way Up premieres Sept. 18 on Apple TV+ with three episodes and then new episodes dropping every Friday.