Kyle Connor from Out of Spec Reviews had a concrete problem: a Rivian R1S sitting at 36 percent battery, a Lightship aero-electric travel trailer waiting to be hooked up, and 80 miles to go with no viable charging stops along the route. The Lightship's Trek Drive system, a 78 kWh battery paired with a motor mounted on the rear axle, is built to offset the drag it adds to the tow vehicle. This run was a practical test, not a comparison on a closed track. If Trek Drive did not work well enough, they would not make it to the destination. They made it, with something to spare in both the truck and the trailer.
Trek Drive needed a couple of resets before engaging properly, as it requires a solid trailer brake signal to initialise and the system toggled off during a reinitialisation cycle. Once active and above 15 mph, it held 13 to 14 kW of output on flat ground at highway speed, scaling to around 30 kW on inclines. The Rivian's range estimate at the start of the trip showed only 63 miles from 36 percent because it did not account for the trailer pushing back. As the drive progressed, the truck's computer picked up on the situation and eventually estimated the trailer's effective weight at only 2,000 lb, despite the actual loaded weight exceeding 7,000 lb. Efficiency in the Rivian held between 2.3 and 2.45 miles per kilowatt hour across back roads and a stretch of interstate at up to 70 mph. That figure is close to what the R1S achieves on the same roads without anything attached.
After 71 miles, they pulled off the highway with 13 percent remaining in the Rivian and 70 percent remaining in the Lightship's battery. Total draw from the truck was about 30 kWh for the trip. The aerodynamic form of the trailer matters more at highway speeds, while Trek Drive carries more of the load at lower speeds where the aero advantage is smaller. The Lightship is 8.5 feet wide, which means you should have tow mirrors on a Rivian. The unit in this video is VIN 6 off Lightship's Broomfield, Colorado production line. Kyle noted early-production fit and finish issues throughout the week: a main door seal that requires a firm slam to latch, a bathroom counter that started lifting after showering, and a stair position sensor that occasionally misread its own retracted state. Lightship says most of these are known and being addressed. DC fast charging for the trailer battery is still coming via a software update.
Bottom line: Trek Drive is the best part of this vehicle, and this run proved the concept on a real trip with real stakes. Whether the Lightship itself justifies its price at this stage of production is a harder question, but putting a battery and motor in a trailer and using it to help your tow vehicle is a genuinely good idea, and the numbers here back it up.