[KWEYEDOC]

I’m in.

 

[Kepi]

Those look great, I'm in for both.

 

[Gene]

I’m in Alaska and camp/overland at least 80 nights a year. 2021 we did more like 120. Mostly out of my 200 series LC with off road camper but do a ton with ground tents/basecamp set up (where we use the above water heater) and 5-7 days a year in our RTT. Have three Dometic fridge/freezers and even my smallest 55L puts out noticeable heat inside my 200 even in the single digits F.

I had a max pack R1T on order that I canceled a couple months ago when it looked more and more like the max will be a long way off. Still may get one some day but hesitant due to the air springs and 20” wheels on the “off road” package. Also have a reservation on a Silverado EV and CT.

nice work on the fridge, it will be way more practical and useful actually camping then the Rivian camp kitchen… People should save their money, buy one of these with a nice mountain summit, stoic,… kitchen and GSI, MSR,… stoves will have a much more versatile and functional kitchen set up with $$$$thousands in their pocket for food/wine/beer/…

Man. 80 nights a year in Alaska. I bet you have seen some spectacular star scapes most of us can only dream about.

 

[jfree66]

About 4 months ago my buddy Jeff, (Feb 2019 R1S LE Order) showed me a post over at rivianownersforum.com from Danny C who had fit a small 12V DC electric cooler in his R1T frunk. Jeff is an avid camper and was a bit bummed out about the unusual dimensions of the R1 precluding any good sized electric coolers—in the 40 quart size range.
He asked me how hard it would be to design and manufacture a lower profile 40 quart 12V DC cooler specifically for the R1 platform—which is not as odd a question as it seems because I have 20+ years experience as a product design and manufacturing engineer, including roto-molding. IOW it's my day job.

We got to talking about his coolers for camping, the Dometic style in overlanding, and if it would even be possible for the frunk to use such a unit with more volume than current retail units offer.

We bounced ideas and concepts around for about 4 months, worked with the great Sue Smith from Munro & Associates for engineering assets, and DuckTruck let us poke around his R1T to take hundreds of photos.

The design brief ended up being a clean-sheet 40 quart powered refrigerator/freezer to specifically fit in, and work with, the R1 platform: highly robust, field repairable, functional, and likely to outlast the Rivian itself.

While working on the cooler design and where it would live in the frunk, we came up with the addition of a 12 gallon, (45 liter) potable water tank to sit in the lower well of the frunk: DC powered pump, solid state fill limit switch, baffled interior, wash-down sprayer, and sturdy enough to replace the stock frunk folding deck.

View attachment 8335

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We are aware that Rivian stopped adding the 12V DC plug in the frunk at around VIN 12.000

That means the customer base with the plug is about 12,000 trucks already delivered. On the (possibly) plus side this post shows that Rivian left the wiring and only removed the plug:

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/f...none-in-frunk-for-r1t.8716/page-6#post-214058

It is looking like adding the plug back is not all that difficult or expensive. If there is sufficient interest from owners with VIN's after 12,000 we can put together a small kit with the plug and any connectors needed, as well as a how to video.

Also, for those unsure about running an electric cooler in the frunk, several owners have already been running them without issue. Some even took the time to record actual in use temperature data and share it here:

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/forum/threads/vehicle-fridge-temperature-impact-in-frunk.5074/

We will be putting up a private forum in the next week or so for anyone who wants to reserve--the hope being we can get 200 - 300 people wanting the cooler, the water tank, or both and move ahead with production.

Pricing is not final but the cooler is looking like $550 - $600 and the water tank with pump, electronic fill sensor, and sprayer will be in the $150 - $200 range.

Until then I am happy to answer any questions in here.

Great job! Right before Labor Day is when I realized there simply no good options for a powered cooler in the frunk, and now look at ya! Please do keep us posted. Wonder if a kickstarter-type campaign would be appropriate? Seems like there would be interest in a low profile option for more than just R1 owners, but who knows. I hope I can remember to keep checking back periodically to see when your product might be available.

 

[Gene]

Haven't received my Launch Green but am very interested in the wire harness kit and the Cooler for sure.
Please let me know when it is available. Do you folks need $ down?

The "plan" for the cooler, or what we are currently thinking is that I will put in $20,000 - $25,000 and we will get another $25,000 - $30,00 from reservations. The reservation amount would vary based on the number of reservation holders. Just as a basic example, 150 reservations at $200 each = $30,000 or 200 reservations would be $150 each.

When the hosted private forum is up I will be posting information about other products and projects I have done in the past and everyone interested can join in on the discussion on how best to proceed. Another option might be to just do the water tank first as it is a less expensive item and would require less reservations to be a viable project. That would also give everyone a less expensive way to "test the waters" where my capabilities are concerned.

I will be posting the private forum link in here when it is up.

 

[Gene]

Count me in also. Wife always toke cooler to grocery then is in a hurry to get home to get food into fridge. Ive been toying with ideas too.

I live in South Texas so I for sure sympathize with your wife.

 

[Gene]

Very cool , i was unable to access the link for the post about running coolers in sealed frunk and not over heateing them how are you managing this ?

Paul,

I just tried the link and it seemed to work OK. I will include it below.

As for heat mitigation as it pertains to the cooler design. The refrigeration component area--the yellow section in the center of the cooler--is 2mm thick aluminum sheet to help keep those components cooler. There is a 120mm fan on the condenser and a second 120 mm fan cooling the compressor and adding some redundancy. The cooler itself is an air tight super insulated true two compartment design with two additional fans inside the cooler that move air between the compartments for more efficient cooling. The evaporator is on the inside of the cooler envelope--not buried behind the inner plastic wall of the cooler structure--and is behind another 2mm thick aluminum plate--the yellow section you see inside the cooler--for maximum thermal efficiency.

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/forum/threads/vehicle-fridge-temperature-impact-in-frunk.5074/

 

[Gene]

Interested in an R1S version. Not sure if the frunks will be the same size or similar enough.

The R1T and R1S are supposed to be identical from the A pillar forward.

 

[Kkanipe]

About 4 months ago my buddy Jeff, (Feb 2019 R1S LE Order) showed me a post over at rivianownersforum.com from Danny C who had fit a small 12V DC electric cooler in his R1T frunk. Jeff is an avid camper and was a bit bummed out about the unusual dimensions of the R1 precluding any good sized electric coolers—in the 40 quart size range.
He asked me how hard it would be to design and manufacture a lower profile 40 quart 12V DC cooler specifically for the R1 platform—which is not as odd a question as it seems because I have 20+ years experience as a product design and manufacturing engineer, including roto-molding. IOW it's my day job.

We got to talking about his coolers for camping, the Dometic style in overlanding, and if it would even be possible for the frunk to use such a unit with more volume than current retail units offer.

We bounced ideas and concepts around for about 4 months, worked with the great Sue Smith from Munro & Associates for engineering assets, and DuckTruck let us poke around his R1T to take hundreds of photos.

The design brief ended up being a clean-sheet 40 quart powered refrigerator/freezer to specifically fit in, and work with, the R1 platform: highly robust, field repairable, functional, and likely to outlast the Rivian itself.

While working on the cooler design and where it would live in the frunk, we came up with the addition of a 12 gallon, (45 liter) potable water tank to sit in the lower well of the frunk: DC powered pump, solid state fill limit switch, baffled interior, wash-down sprayer, and sturdy enough to replace the stock frunk folding deck.

View attachment 8335

View attachment 8336

View attachment 8337

View attachment 8338

View attachment 8339

View attachment 8340

View attachment 8341

View attachment 8342

View attachment 8343

View attachment 8344

We are aware that Rivian stopped adding the 12V DC plug in the frunk at around VIN 12.000

That means the customer base with the plug is about 12,000 trucks already delivered. On the (possibly) plus side this post shows that Rivian left the wiring and only removed the plug:

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/f...none-in-frunk-for-r1t.8716/page-6#post-214058

It is looking like adding the plug back is not all that difficult or expensive. If there is sufficient interest from owners with VIN's after 12,000 we can put together a small kit with the plug and any connectors needed, as well as a how to video.

Also, for those unsure about running an electric cooler in the frunk, several owners have already been running them without issue. Some even took the time to record actual in use temperature data and share it here:

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/forum/threads/vehicle-fridge-temperature-impact-in-frunk.5074/

We will be putting up a private forum in the next week or so for anyone who wants to reserve--the hope being we can get 200 - 300 people wanting the cooler, the water tank, or both and move ahead with production.

Pricing is not final but the cooler is looking like $550 - $600 and the water tank with pump, electronic fill sensor, and sprayer will be in the $150 - $200 range.

Until then I am happy to answer any questions in here.

I would love one, count me in

 

[ColeAK]

Man. 80 nights a year in Alaska. I bet you have seen some spectacular star scapes most of us can only dream about.

Through the winter yes. But right now (early winter) is the best time of year for alpine glow and sunsets, still a little early for Aurora.

Also Mid May -> mid August it never really gets dark so no stars to see then.

last weekend knowing the snow was on the way we did an overnight over O’Malley, phone camera doesn’t donut justice.

 

[Gene]

Through the winter yes. But right now (early winter) is the best time of year for alpine glow and sunsets, still a little early for Aurora.

Also Mid May -> mid August it never really gets dark so no stars to see then.

last weekend knowing the snow was on the way we did an overnight over O’Malley, phone camera doesn’t donut justice. View attachment 8467 View attachment 8469

Pretty spectacular.

When I was a kid we would camp in the "wilds" of Idaho where there was virtually zero light pollution (this was 40 plus years ago) and to this day I remember exiting the tent late one night and looking up and just being awestruck at how huge the night sky was and how many stars there were. I had never seen the night sky like that before and it just rooted my feet to the ground with my jaw dropped. It has been on my to do list for 20 years to see the night sky like that again.

 

[ColeAK]

Pretty spectacular.

When I was a kid we would camp in the "wilds" of Idaho where there was virtually zero light pollution (this was 40 plus years ago) and to this day I remember exiting the tent late one night and looking up and just being awestruck at how huge the night sky was and how many stars there were. I had never seen the night sky like that before and it just rooted my feet to the ground with my jaw dropped. It has been on my to do list for 20 years to see the night sky like that again.

A trip to Chena hot springs, outside of Fairbanks some time October to March planned around a new moon should possibly be added to your bucket list.

 

[booeyoh]

I am definitely interested, please add me to the forum!

 

[lethargic_wombat]

Please add me to the forum. I'm interested.

 

[seatosummit]

Beautiful renderings and very thoughtful design. A quick note : I have experienced a lot of heat and moisture accumulation in the frunk during long road trips in high ambient temps. My observation is that the AC for both the cabin and the batteries appears to dump the accumulated heat and humidity in the frunk. Our luggage was drenched and we opted to move our bags elsewhere in the vehicle for the remainder of the trip. Perhaps you have planned for this already! Good luck with the effort!

 

[Gene]

Beautiful renderings and very thoughtful design. A quick note : I have experienced a lot of heat and moisture accumulation in the frunk during long road trips in high ambient temps. My observation is that the AC for both the cabin and the batteries appears to dump the accumulated heat and humidity in the frunk. Our luggage was drenched and we opted to move our bags elsewhere in the vehicle for the remainder of the trip. Perhaps you have planned for this already! Good luck with the effort!

Yes we have. I've covered that aspect of the design in several other posts here and will go over it in more detail when the project forum is up.

 

[Gene]

Just an update on the hosted private forum for the cooler and water tank project. Jeff is working with a friend who knows how to set up that sort of thing and they have the software installed. Will be working on configuring it tomorrow, (Friday Oct. 14th) so it will hopefully be up and running soon.

I will post a link when it is.

 

[Craignyc]

I’d be down for that

 

[grassmann]

About 4 months ago my buddy Jeff, (Feb 2019 R1S LE Order) showed me a post over at rivianownersforum.com from Danny C who had fit a small 12V DC electric cooler in his R1T frunk. Jeff is an avid camper and was a bit bummed out about the unusual dimensions of the R1 precluding any good sized electric coolers—in the 40 quart size range.
He asked me how hard it would be to design and manufacture a lower profile 40 quart 12V DC cooler specifically for the R1 platform—which is not as odd a question as it seems because I have 20+ years experience as a product design and manufacturing engineer, including roto-molding. IOW it's my day job.

We got to talking about his coolers for camping, the Dometic style in overlanding, and if it would even be possible for the frunk to use such a unit with more volume than current retail units offer.

We bounced ideas and concepts around for about 4 months, worked with the great Sue Smith from Munro & Associates for engineering assets, and DuckTruck let us poke around his R1T to take hundreds of photos.

The design brief ended up being a clean-sheet 40 quart powered refrigerator/freezer to specifically fit in, and work with, the R1 platform: highly robust, field repairable, functional, and likely to outlast the Rivian itself.

While working on the cooler design and where it would live in the frunk, we came up with the addition of a 12 gallon, (45 liter) potable water tank to sit in the lower well of the frunk: DC powered pump, solid state fill limit switch, baffled interior, wash-down sprayer, and sturdy enough to replace the stock frunk folding deck.

View attachment 8335

View attachment 8336

View attachment 8337

View attachment 8338

View attachment 8339

View attachment 8340

View attachment 8341

View attachment 8342

View attachment 8343

View attachment 8344

We are aware that Rivian stopped adding the 12V DC plug in the frunk at around VIN 12.000

That means the customer base with the plug is about 12,000 trucks already delivered. On the (possibly) plus side this post shows that Rivian left the wiring and only removed the plug:

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/f...none-in-frunk-for-r1t.8716/page-6#post-214058

It is looking like adding the plug back is not all that difficult or expensive. If there is sufficient interest from owners with VIN's after 12,000 we can put together a small kit with the plug and any connectors needed, as well as a how to video.

Also, for those unsure about running an electric cooler in the frunk, several owners have already been running them without issue. Some even took the time to record actual in use temperature data and share it here:

https://www.rivianownersforum.com/forum/threads/vehicle-fridge-temperature-impact-in-frunk.5074/

We will be putting up a private forum in the next week or so for anyone who wants to reserve--the hope being we can get 200 - 300 people wanting the cooler, the water tank, or both and move ahead with production.

Pricing is not final but the cooler is looking like $550 - $600 and the water tank with pump, electronic fill sensor, and sprayer will be in the $150 - $200 range.

Until then I am happy to answer any questions in here.

Count me in for both!

 

[oedmonds]

mark me down as an interested beta tester as well! thank you