Rivian is going to have to make a fridge

[kylealden]

Just for a little friendly competition... This is the Dometic CFX3 95DZ in my Hummer EV.

First and only thing I'm actually jealous of the Hummer for. I bought that exact fridge back when I thought it would fit in the R1T frunk.

Oh well. Looks nice in my garage...

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[ajclemente]

I was looking at getting the Dometic CFX3 35. It will fit in the bed with the cover. It's not duel zone, but will use it as a freezer and use my old yeti 35 as the fridge.

 

[Dohmar]

Intellectually, I knew it from the dimensions, but seeing is believing.

With the relatively late tweak to the frunk layout, I don't think anyone is fitting "2 full size coolers" in there anymore.

Not quite going to fit the irregular shape of the gear tunnel either (though this will eventually be occupied with the kitchen anyways).

And it just scrapes the tonneau (though it still opens and closes, so at least this works). No 12V back here though (thankfully this fridge works on 120VAC too).

On the business side, I'm sure there will be great margins on a Rivian-optimized fridge... ??

Thankyou very much for the photos. I'm incredibly disappointed by the lack of depth in the frunk and the lack of height with the tonneau cover closed.
I guess I'll be waiting to see what the R2T is specced like, or I 'settle' for an R1S

Le sigh

 

[Zoidz]

I'm incredibly disappointed by the lack of depth in the frunk and the lack of height with the tonneau cover closed.

Everything is a design trade off. I do agree that the bed height should be at least 2" - 3" more, and there is no technical reason it couldn't be.

The frunk is a different animal. The front end suspension/running gear is the reason the frunk is shaped the way it is. Rivian's only choice would be to increase the height of the entire front clip, which greatly affects wind resistance/range, driver view angles, interior design, etc. etc. to the point of it looking more like an F150 or RAM front end. I think they made the right decision not to design the frunk volume (and therefore entire front clip) as a function of what coolers will fit.

Picture below shows the running gear which is the reason for the frunk shape - it's essentially in the area between the front "struts".

 

[crashmtb]

Everything is a design trade off. I do agree that the bed height should be at least 2" - 3" more, and there is no technical reason it couldn't be.

The frunk is a different animal. The front end suspension/running gear is the reason the frunk is shaped the way it is. Rivian's only choice would be to increase the height of the entire front clip, which greatly affects wind resistance/range, driver view angles, interior design, etc. etc. to the point of it looking more like an F150 or RAM front end. I think they made the right decision not to design the frunk volume (and therefore entire front clip) as a function of what coolers will fit.

Picture below shows the running gear which is the reason for the frunk shape - it's essentially in the area between the front "struts".

It looks like the EPAS rack is what makes the big bump at the front of the front trunk that precludes something like a cooler from fitting. This is a relatively late change from the prototypes they showed off until basically start of production.

WRT bed height, that’s 17”, the distance from top of bed rail to top of roof is 17”, a tidy 34”, I suspect the bed height is what it is to fit the spare tire and maintain ground clearance and departure angle.

 

[Forager]

I’ve been waiting to buy a fridge until we get our R1S for this reason. Should be a bit easier with the cargo area, but I’ll be building a dog crate for it, so best to wait.

 

[Dohmar]

Everything is a design trade off. I do agree that the bed height should be at least 2" - 3" more, and there is no technical reason it couldn't be.

The frunk is a different animal. The front end suspension/running gear is the reason the frunk is shaped the way it is. Rivian's only choice would be to increase the height of the entire front clip, which greatly affects wind resistance/range, driver view angles, interior design, etc. etc. to the point of it looking more like an F150 or RAM front end. I think they made the right decision not to design the frunk volume (and therefore entire front clip) as a function of what coolers will fit.

Picture below shows the running gear which is the reason for the frunk shape - it's essentially in the area between the front "struts".

Interesting. I'm wondering if that suspension could be modified to have a single 'inner' strut that mounts to the pivot, and replace it with a dual setup, then reverse the pivot point to being on the 'outer' side with the single inner strut replaced with a twin fork setup mounted closer to the outside. Certainly can't do anything about the height or width of the strut placement but I think those control arms could be redesigned better

 

[junkanoo]

Interesting. I'm wondering if that suspension could be modified to have a single 'inner' strut that mounts to the pivot, and replace it with a dual setup, then reverse the pivot point to being on the 'outer' side with the single inner strut replaced with a twin fork setup mounted closer to the outside. Certainly can't do anything about the height or width of the strut placement but I think those control arms could be redesigned better

Candidly, I don't even know what that means ... other than Rivian might have a working, durable suspension right now ... so the chances of them modifying it and going through spec changes and millions of dollars of testing - only to possibly have unforeseen problems - would seem to be nil. They need to make vehicles.

 

[crashmtb]

Interesting. I'm wondering if that suspension could be modified to have a single 'inner' strut that mounts to the pivot, and replace it with a dual setup, then reverse the pivot point to being on the 'outer' side with the single inner strut replaced with a twin fork setup mounted closer to the outside. Certainly can't do anything about the height or width of the strut placement but I think those control arms could be redesigned better

The suspension isn’t the issue, and personally I wouldn‘t want one of this vehicle’s key features - its suspension - compromised just to increase trunk width. It’s already 54” across.

what precludes a fridge from fitting is the bump in the middle of the front of the lower half of the front trunk. See post no. 6 in this thread.

 

[ads75]

Interesting. I'm wondering if that suspension could be modified to have a single 'inner' strut that mounts to the pivot, and replace it with a dual setup, then reverse the pivot point to being on the 'outer' side with the single inner strut replaced with a twin fork setup mounted closer to the outside. Certainly can't do anything about the height or width of the strut placement but I think those control arms could be redesigned better

Try and tell that to the guy with a PhD from MIT.

 

[the long way downunder]

Intellectually, I knew it from the dimensions, but seeing is believing.

With the relatively late tweak to the frunk layout, I don't think anyone is fitting "2 full size coolers" in there anymore.

Is there a before-after comparison of the "frunk tweak"?
Is there an explanation of the tweak?
I wonder if it was to clear the space needed for the winch.
That image of a fridge being … 30%? … 50%? too big for the frunk is disappointing to say the least; I think it's a major blunder.
No 12V in the bed is also a minor "what were you thinking?" omission.
Has anyone found a compressor fridge-freezer that does fit in the frunk?

 

[Zoidz]

That image of a fridge being … 30%? … 50%? too big for the frunk is disappoint to say the least; I think it's a major blunder.

The blunder would be compromising the vehicle by designing the frunk around a cooler that maybe 5% of the customer will ever use.

 

[crashmtb]

The blunder would be compromising the vehicle by designing the frunk around a cooler that maybe 5% of the customer will ever use.

In fairness my 50QT regular old cooler will not fit because of the same bump at the front of the trunk. this is a disappointment. Much friendlier for beer access compared to the bed. ?

 

[Dark-Fx]

First and only thing I'm actually jealous of the Hummer for. I bought that exact fridge back when I thought it would fit in the R1T frunk.

Oh well. Looks nice in my garage...

That's why I bought it too. Didn't anticipate even using it in the Hummer, but I don't have an R1T yet.

 

[the long way downunder]

The blunder would be compromising the vehicle by designing the frunk around a cooler that maybe 5% of the customer will ever use.

Yes, I understand it's unconscionable to criticize Rivian or Tesla, etc.

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