We bury our skepticism, along with organic sweet potatoes, at the Rivian community center in Venice, California.
Elana ScherrCar and Driver
All I knew, heading to the Rivian Venice Hub, was that it used to be Ray Bradbury’s home and that I could sign up for free meditation classes there. I didn’t. I’d signed up for free edible gardening classes, because the word “edible” sounded promising. That’s edible as in “eatable,” not as in weed, although either could be possible in Venice, California.
I didn’t have an R1T to drive down, but I figured a Mustang Mach-E GT should put me in the right all-electric mood to scope out the first of Rivian’s . . . dealerships? Showrooms? Charging stations? I wasn’t really sure what to expect from the Hub, which is advertised on Rivian’s website with photos of attractive people reading books, grinning from rooftop tents, and caressing small pots of cilantro. It’s described as “a place to come together, connect, and share ideas.” As a sourpuss who dislikes both sharing and socializing, I assumed I’d hate it. Still, my assignment was to check it out, and I was determined to do my duty.
The Hub is a small brick compound in the middle of a busy block of Venice Boulevard. Plans for pulling in and plugging in were dashed immediately by a closed gate across the driveway, but I found a street parking space right as another Mach-E was leaving, a few cars down from a white Rivian truck and a gray BMW i3. If the goal is to sell an electric lifestyle, the Hub seems to be attracting the right crowd.
Elana ScherrCar and Driver
While the main driveway was closed, the pedestrian gate was open, and I followed a couple with a goldendoodle puppy inside, where a friendly lady checked us in for the gardening class. There were about 30 people milling about, mostly younger couples, several with kids or dogs in tow. Outside one building was a bike rack with hip bikes in the same muted earth tones Rivian uses on its trucks. At the back wall was a coffee stand selling iced lattes and organic pastries. “Do you have non-dairy milk?” I asked. “We only have non-dairy milk,” the barista answered.
All around were tastefully simple wooden seating areas and wheeled garden boxes full of sweet-scented herbs. Of actual Rivians, there were two, a Launch Green version parked in the center of the complex, and behind it, a Limestone Gray machine showcasing off-road accessories like a bed-mounted tent. Both trucks were being used as jungle gyms by some of the kids, but the Rivian reps seemed unperturbed, pointing out features and answering questions for anyone who asked.
Elana ScherrCar and Driver
The gardening class made up about half of the people on site, and despite my initial reservations, it was fun. The instructor, Loretta Allison, specializes in landscaping with usable plants, and she encouraged everyone to pluck and snuffle through the garden beds. Despite my personal history with murdered greenery, I found myself fantasizing about going home and setting up beds of sweet peas and heirloom potatoes. I’ll spare you the details from four pages of notes on winter planting, but if you’re curious, lettuces taste better in cold weather, and nasturtium adds a horseradish-y pepper to winter salads. At one point the instructor had to repeat herself, drowned out by the roar of a passing GT500. I was the only one who looked up as it passed.
The gardening class is just one of the events hosted by the Hub, which works with other local experts, too, such as a local bike shop that hosts safety checks and a zero-waste expert who instructs on recycling and reuse. There are also regular kids’ story and craft times, reflected in shelves of children’s books in an airy library and a string of crayon and marker drawings of Rivian trucks draped across the windows of the neighboring art room.
Violas in the Front, Chargers in the Back
After deadheading some violas and learning the proper technique for planting potatoes—bury them deep, they sprout more—I left the class as they crushed thyme between their fingers and compared composters, and went to explore the buildings. There were in fact some chargers, but they were tucked away in the back, intended for the demo vehicles rather than the public. Rivian has announced plans for an ambitious charging network—more than 3500 DC fast chargers at 600 spots around the United States and Canada by 2023 and 10,000 Level 2 chargers at shipping centers and parks. But at the moment, the Venice Hub isn’t any of those.
It’s not a dealership, either, despite the fact that the easygoing staff was helping six-year-olds in and out of the R1T’s gear tunnel. You can get tech questions answered, but Rivian handles reservations and sales online. So I guess you could buy an R1T at the Hub, but you’d do it on your own phone or laptop. For many of the boutique electric brands, designing a lifestyle may be the key to capturing a customer base more than a traditional dealership experience, and they might be on to something. How often does a traditional dealer send you home with a bag of organic arugula?
Elana ScherrCar and Driver
Before I left, I swung by the small gift shop at the back of the library. Hand-thrown pottery by local artists shared space with Rivian-branded flashlights and T-shirts in the same hues as the bikes and trucks. Whatever else you might say, Rivian’s brand designers are on top of it. The rep manning the shop was happy to answer my questions about the place, telling me the current crowd was rather small, probably because of the rainy morning. When I pushed for more about the business case behind the Hub, he smiled at my capitalist confusion. “It doesn’t have to be a transactional space,” he said. “It can just be a community gathering point.” He said that he regularly sees international visitors popping in on their way to and from nearby LAX, and as I readied my face for scoffing, a customer turned around from the shelf he was browsing. “I’m from Korea!” he said, adding that he had seen a Rivian testing in his hometown, thought it was interesting, and since he was in Los Angeles anyway on business, figured he’d pop in and see one up close. Then he bought a Rivian thermos. Time will tell if he goes home and orders up a truck.
Keyword: Rivian’s Venice Hub Gives the Electric-Car Lifestyle the Soft Sell