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.
As Rivian prepares for its biggest production ramp yet, the company is quietly building out the executive team needed to support a massive influx of new owners. A recent move to fill two high-level leadership positions signals that major updates are on the horizon for both Rivian Insurance and Rivian Care, the company’s in-house protection programs.
The expansion was first highlighted by Rivian enthusiast Chris Hilbert (@Hilbe), who shared a call for talent from Mike Slattery, Rivian’s Head of Insurance. Slattery’s announcement makes it clear that the company is looking to move beyond "business as usual" by leveraging its connected vehicle platform to rethink how insurance and warranties work.
Building a "High-Impact" Support Engine
The first of the two roles, the Sr. Program Operations Lead for Rivian Care, will serve as the "operational engine" behind the company’s vehicle protection products. This includes scaling high-impact programs like service contracts, windshield protection, and wheel and tire plans across multiple markets.
Currently, Rivian — whose name reflects a focus on the adventurous spirit of the Indian River — offers Rivian Care as a pilot program powered by Assurant. It is designed to protect vehicles like the R1T and R1S beyond their standard manufacturer’s warranty, covering critical components like the high-voltage battery and drivetrain. With a dedicated operations lead now joining the team, it’s likely that this pilot phase is nearing an end in favor of a more robust, permanent program.
The Future of Connected Insurance
The second position is an Insurance Agency Leader based on the ground at Rivian’s manufacturing hub in Bloomington/Normal, Illinois. Slattery noted that this leader will be tasked with driving profitability while keeping the owner experience central, all while "leveraging vehicle intelligence to fundamentally change how vehicle protection products actually work!"
Rivian Insurance is already a licensed agency available in all 50 U.S. states, but its potential is only just being tapped. Much like Tesla Insurance, which recently released its Safety Score 3.0 to further reward drivers who use the company’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system, Rivian is looking to use data-driven rates via its Driver+ system. By using the vehicle’s internal intelligence, Rivian can offer custom policies tailored to the exact risk profile of its drivers, making the transition from R1 to the mass market much smoother.
A mass-market vehicle brings a much broader audience, many of whom will expect first-party extended warranties and competitive insurance rates right out of the box. By scaling these leadership roles now, Rivian is ensuring it has the "operational engine" ready to handle tens of thousands of new R2 owners. This proactive hiring suggests that when the R2 configurator opens later this year, it will likely be accompanied by a more integrated and transparent suite of protection products than ever before.
Rivian is taking a major step toward closing the loop on battery life. The electric vehicle maker has officially announced a partnership with Redwood Materials to deploy a first-of-its-kind energy storage system at its Normal, Illinois, manufacturing facility. By repurposing more than 100 "second-life" battery packs from its vehicles, Rivian will create a 10 megawatt-hour (MWh) storage reservoir to help power the very plant where its cars are built.
This partnership is a massive win for sustainability. EV batteries are designed to be incredibly durable, often outlasting the vehicles themselves. Even when a pack is no longer ideal for high-performance driving, it still holds significant value for stationary storage. By utilizing these assets, Rivian is ensuring its environmental footprint remains as small as possible.
Repurposing for the R2 Ramp
The timing of this installation is particularly critical. Rivian’s Normal plant is currently gearing up for mass production of the R2, the company’s first affordable, mass-market SUV. After recently beating Q1 delivery estimates, the factory is under immense pressure to scale.
Rivian Wave
The new 10 MWh system will provide "dispatchable energy," meaning Rivian can pull power from these batteries during peak demand periods. This will not only lower energy costs for the company but also reduce the overall load on the local electrical grid, supporting reliability for the surrounding community.
“EVs represent a massive, distributed and highly competitive energy resource,” said Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe. “As energy needs grow, our grid needs to be flexible, secure, and affordable. Our partnership with Redwood enables us to utilize our vehicle’s batteries beyond the life of a vehicle and contribute to grid health and American competitiveness.”
Solving the Industrial Growth Constraint
The "secret sauce" behind this setup is Redwood’s proprietary Pack Manager technology. This system acts as a universal translator, allowing Redwood to communicate with and control different battery packs regardless of their original voltage or state of health.
JB Straubel, the founder and CEO of Redwood Materials (and former Tesla CTO), highlighted that the grid is currently struggling to keep up with the demands of modern manufacturing. “Electricity demand is accelerating faster than the grid can expand, posing a constraint on industrial growth,” Straubel said. “Our partnership with Rivian shows how EV battery packs can be turned into dispatchable energy resources, bringing new capacity online quickly, supporting critical manufacturing, and reducing strain on the grid without waiting years for new infrastructure. This is a scalable model for how we add meaningful energy capacity in the near term.”
A Scalable Model for the Future
This 10 MWh project is just the beginning. Redwood estimates that by 2030, the U.S. will need over 600 GWh of storage to stabilize the grid — a massive amount of energy equivalent to the Hoover Dam running for two months straight.
By turning old EV batteries into stationary assets before they are eventually recycled, companies can defer billions of dollars in costly infrastructure upgrades. As Rivian prepares to hand over the first R2 keys later this spring, its factory will be running on a smarter, more resilient energy loop that proves the "second life" of a battery is just as important as the first.
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