Introduction
Part of the series to visit and review all the Rivian Adventure Network sites in Michigan, post the upgrades to all sites to support all electric vehicles. Site visit on September 28, 2025.
The Dunkin’ – Benton Harbor station was the 1st charging stop. This also happened to be the only stop where I saw a Rivian vehicle charging. (Originally opened April 2023. This station opened to all electric vehicles in April 2025).
Accessibility
The Dunkin’ site at Benton Harbor is in the parking lot of the strip mall. The site is 0.2 miles from I-94 at exit 28 you right next to the exit ramp. North from the exit in the corner of the medium parking lot. Four stalls in a row with perpendicular parking and two dedicated pull-through parking stalls.
Amenities
Dining options include: Dunkin’
Shopping options include: None
Car-related services (windshield cleaning, air): Marathon gas station across the street
Concentration
This is the latest standard 6 station layout for Rivian. There are a couple of pull-through stalls for those pulling a trailer. The longer cables on the second-generation hardware remove most concerns about cables reaching charge ports. There is a benefit that there are 6 units, this distributes the power across enough stalls to keep traffic flowing.
Location
This site supports I-94 east/west interstate. Quite a popular location for charging in Michigan. Connecting major cities including Grand Rapids – 95 miles NNE, Chicago – 95 miles W, and Indianapolis – 190 miles S.
50 Mile Loop:
150 Mile Range Estimate:
Speed
The Rivian sites follow a standard layout for speed/power. There are six dispensers that are configured in trios(A/B/C). Two power cabinets can then each split power between three linked dispensers. Each set shares a combined 300kW output. The dispensers have liquid cooled cables supporting 500A. Unless a site is full, most vehicles on the market today are going to arrive and be provided all the power they can request. At this site the transformer is slightly undersized at 500 kVA, this will require power balancing when nearing the limit of site output power.
Summary
Unlike my last trip in this direction to review the Tesla sites where I stopped 5 times at charging sites, on this trip it was a direct run east to west on I-94. Left with 92% and 169 miles later arrived here with 31%, 2% better than originally estimated by A Better Route Planner. I did pause about midway in Jackson to check in on the NEVI site under construction there and found a team working on the site on a Sunday, and the station did unofficially open one week later. I was suprised how close to the exit this site was located. I arrived to find a Rivian R1S charging at one end of the set of 4 pull in stalls. I took the post closest to the power equipment.
I struggled at first because the site was not showing up in the Rivian application to enable starting the charge. I would find out much later in the trip that this was a problem with the zone level handling and that once that close to the charger you need to be zoomed in to the map as far as possible to be able to find the station to start the charge. Of course all of these new dispensers are equiped with tap to pay credit card readers, so I started this charge with a tap of my card on the reader. The power ramped up and I was able to see speeds in the 230kW range as expected. After just 11 minutes I was back to 70% and ready to move onto the next stop.
What I paid for this stop:
Total Cost: $20.55
Total kWh: 32.116 kWh
Time: 11 minutes
Average Charge Speed: 175 kW
Cost per kWh: $0.64
Alternatives:
Meijer - 1920 Pipestone Rd, Benton Harbor, Michigan 49022- $0.56/kWh – 350kW x 6 (Electrify America)
Meijer - 1920 Pipestone Rd, Benton Harbor, Michigan 49022- $0.51/kWh – 250kW x 12 (Tesla)
Questions or Comments:
dantheevman@gmail.com
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