New R1S Frunk is always hot and has a mild burning smell. Normal?

[Rizzian]

I've used the front trunk a couple of times for groceries, but then I stopped because it always seems really hot in the Frunk. It's also impractical to load and unload when pulled all the way in to my garage, so I just don't use it often. On the rare occasion that I do open the frunk (just after I've been driving the car), I always notice that it's pretty hot in there and faintly smells like something burning. It's in the 80's and 90's here in Florida and the AC is always cranked, so I have just assumed that things heating up could be expected. The drunk does but up against the two front motors and what sounds like the AC fan. Temps in my diagnostics screen all look normal. Is anybody else noticing that their Frunk is hot and smells like an electrical fire?

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[Scoiatael]

Not normal. My R1T frunk would get warm in 100 degrees weather but it never had a burning smell.

 

[Riviot]

Get yourself a frunk w00ter tank, it'll keep things cooler via thermal leeching. As a side effect, you get warm water to spray out the front!

 

[Dark-Fx]

I've been using my frunk to season firewood ?

 

[COdogman]

Are you sure the smell isn’t just VOCs escaping from the materials inside? If your Rivian is new it might be an explanation. Maybe leave the frunk open while it sits parked in your garage and see if it dissipates…

 

[KBabione]

I bought a Blue Maestro temperature logger for $30 and stuck it in our frunk to monitor how hot it actually gets in there. It connects via BlueTooth to your phone and will log the temp at whatever interval you want (or in real time). I was surprised in April to watch it go from 60F to 118F while charging at a L3 charger.

I'm looking at it primarily to determine if I can put travel bags (with my wife's cosmetics) in the frunk when we're traveling or if it will be too hot for them. Right now I'm going with "too hot."

 

[solaskaze]

I've used the front trunk a couple of times for groceries, but then I stopped because it always seems really hot in the Frunk. It's also impractical to load and unload when pulled all the way in to my garage, so I just don't use it often. On the rare occasion that I do open the frunk (just after I've been driving the car), I always notice that it's pretty hot in there and faintly smells like something burning. It's in the 80's and 90's here in Florida and the AC is always cranked, so I have just assumed that things heating up could be expected. The drunk does but up against the two front motors and what sounds like the AC fan. Temps in my diagnostics screen all look normal. Is anybody else noticing that their Frunk is hot and smells like an electrical fire?

Are you sure electrical? That's quite a specific smell -- my frunk also has a burning odor (on occasion), which I am hoping is the heater/AC burning off the residue on the elements. The hope is that fades in time. No errors/odd behavior otherwise.

 

[DualMotorAZ]

I have just recently noticed something similar while charging for 4 hours on a level 2 charger in my carport at work. The exterior temp was between 95 and 100 degrees and there was a noticeable smell that was slightly electrical scary.
Might have to get one of those "temp loggers" and continue to monitor the situation.

 

[lawyerneering]

I bought a Blue Maestro temperature logger for $30 and stuck it in our frunk to monitor how hot it actually gets in there. It connects via BlueTooth to your phone and will log the temp at whatever interval you want (or in real time). I was surprised in April to watch it go from 60F to 118F while charging at a L3 charger.

I'm looking at it primarily to determine if I can put travel bags (with my wife's cosmetics) in the frunk when we're traveling or if it will be too hot for them. Right now I'm going with "too hot."

How hot does it get while driving around?

 

[Jdcorbitt3]

I have had my April 23 build for 1 year and 20,000 miles. Mine gets warm in the Frunk as well. There is no conditioned air getting in there, and most of the heat generated by the truck is dissipated up there.
I have also noticed the “burning” smell in there as well. I even took the tub out to see if I could smell, or see anything. I could not find anything. I suspect it is the smell of the Tub material when it gets hot.

Due to the above, I put tools and non perishable goods in the Frunk. I use the gear tunnel for temp sensitive items as the gear tunnel is a conditioned space.

 

[Glembi2]

I need to get a temp logger. This past weekend, the temperature was 75 or so and the frunk stayed cooler than the rest of the truck.

 

[KBabione]

How hot does it get while driving around?

Here's an example of the log on my phone from today:

For reference, it was in my garage until about 9:30 when we took her out for the first time. We just got home from dinner and it was 86F when we went into the restaurant around 18:30 - and you can see it was 106F in the frunk. I didn't put the disc into the frunk until January (when I was worried about things freezing), but we had such a mild winter that I didn't bother to check it much.

We were in Charlottesville VA over Memorial Day weekend and it was in the 90's and I had to park in the sun. I kept our luggage in the trunk (NOT frunk) and used Pet Comfort to keep things from getting too hot. The frunk hit 119F that day:

It's a handy little gadget, about the size of an AirTag, and I really didn't think it would hurt me to have one.

 

[Glembi2]

Here's an example of the log on my phone from today:

For reference, it was in my garage until about 9:30 when we took her out for the first time. We just got home from dinner and it was 86F when we went into the restaurant around 18:30 - and you can see it was 106F in the frunk. I didn't put the disc into the frunk until January (when I was worried about things freezing), but we had such a mild winter that I didn't bother to check it much.

We were in Charlottesville VA over Memorial Day weekend and it was in the 90's and I had to park in the sun. I kept our luggage in the trunk (NOT frunk) and used Pet Comfort to keep things from getting too hot. The frunk hit 119F that day:

It's a handy little gadget, about the size of an AirTag, and I really didn't think it would hurt me to have one.

Thanks for the heads up. And love the name of your truck! My truck’s name is R1Stor. Continually having to explain “Double Snow Seven” wasn’t much fun.

 

[KBabione]

Thanks for the heads up. And love the name of your truck! My truck’s name is R1Stor. Continually having to explain “Double Snow Seven” wasn’t much fun.

Aren't you the early bird! Thanks - My wife's first reaction after driving our R1S was: "It's like the Jetson's!" So she picked Rosey after the Jetson's maid and it really seemed to fit. Now if only I could change the call word from "Alexa" to "Rosey" it would be perfect!

Back to the thread - I am curious to see just how hot the frunk gets when the car has been left out in the full sun for a couple of hours this summer. Because of the size of our garage, we can't get into the rear of the R1S when the garage door is closed so we use the frunk a lot. I'll start a fresh thread on this when I have some data in July or August.

 

[Quattro Powers]

My cabin smells at times when it’s hot in my garage or outside. I haven’t determined whether it’s related to the air conditionin. I was charging at 24 amps and my interior had a slight acrid smell. When I’m not charging, I notice the smell n the cabin intermittently.

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