Rivian is going to have to make a fridge

[DJG]

This one of my biggest disappointments with my R1T. I was very bummed when I lifted the false bottom and and saw that hump there. That hump is for the cooling fan for the batteries. If that hump was a few more inches down my ARB would fit. To me a fridge is more important than an inductive stove in a adventure vehicle. I don't want to go back to hotdog water in a cooler. Heck, for that matter, even a decent cooler won't fit in the frunk or in the bed with the cover on.

Looks like the fridge will go in the back seat for now. I would prefer the rear seat tilt up from the front edge instead of the back. It would be easier to make a mount for the fridge. Lack of a 12V in the bed and the cab is an oversight too. I guess I can pull 12V from the tunnel for the cab, but it is not optimal.

There are fridges that fit under the tonneau (Dometic CFX 35 being one) and all of them will fit in the bed with the tonneau open (fully or partially). There is not any aero range impact from the tonneau being open or closed, so the only consideration is really rain, but not sure if that's a problem for most fridges. Dust gets in regardless of where the tonneau is.

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[Swilly]

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.

Would love to see what you end up with for the dog crate. Considering the same after seeing dimensions behind 3rd row.

 

[therealhoff]

I like the idea of the Dometic CFX3 35 in the bed but I dislike the idea of having to have the truck on to keep it powered. Sounds great and all until you get somewhere you want the truck off for several hours and then your food/drinks warm up. Do you have a brand for that 1kwh battery or are there other suggestions from the gallery?

 

[DJG]

I like the idea of the Dometic CFX3 35 in the bed but I dislike the idea of having to have the truck on to keep it powered. Sounds great and all until you get somewhere you want the truck off for several hours and then your food/drinks warm up. Do you have a brand for that 1kwh battery or are there other suggestions from the gallery?

I think you misunderstood. You only have to have the vehicle on for the 12v outlets to be powered. The 120v outlets can be toggled on or off via a button on the screen, and if you turn them on, they stay on until you turn them off (or the entire vehicle battery dies). I have put the Dometic in the bed directly into the 120v and it works great.

A battery power station is useful if you want to move the fridge at camp to a location away from the vehicle and don't want to use an extension cord. It's also good for other things around camp that you don't want tethered to the vehicle, and for using the fridge anywhere else without convenient access to power. You could also switch the fridge over to the 12v on the power station to minimize power draw, and then just daisy chain the battery to the truck to stay charged up.

The better regarded brands for power stations are Jackery, Ecoflow, Goal Zero, Bluetti and there may be a couple others. A full 1kwh power station is quite a lot when you consider the 135kwh battery in the vehicle you have access to, but your needs may vary. The Dometic fridge will consume about 10-12 watts on average in moderate temps, and maybe closer to 20 watts in really hot weather in direct sunlight. I have a 240wh Jackery, so that would power the fridge for 24 hours in moderate temps, less in hot temp, but you can always recharge it at home or from the vehicle overnight.

 

[therealhoff]

I think you misunderstood. You only have to have the vehicle on for the 12v outlets to be powered. .....

I totally did misunderstand. I haven't used the plug yet in the bed and I assumed that the vehicle needed to be powered on for the 120v plugs in the bed to be active. Really appreciate he clarification and suggestions. Sounds like for the vast majority of the use cases, just leaving the cooler in the bed will be perfect unless you have a use case for pulling it out of the bed and moving it over to another location while maintaining power. Thank you for the thorough reply!

 

[R1Sky Business]

I totally did misunderstand. I haven't used the plug yet in the bed and I assumed that the vehicle needed to be powered on for the 120v plugs in the bed to be active. Really appreciate he clarification and suggestions. Sounds like for the vast majority of the use cases, just leaving the cooler in the bed will be perfect unless you have a use case for pulling it out of the bed and moving it over to another location while maintaining power. Thank you for the thorough reply!

Unless you're in bear country

 

[Guinefort]

I have put the Dometic in the bed directly into the 120v and it works great.

I have a question, not sure if this addressed elsewhere in this thread. How did you get the fridge plugged into the 120v? Isn’t that in the gear tunnel? I would like to rig this setup myself. Thank you

 

[timesinks]

I have a question, not sure if this addressed elsewhere in this thread. How did you get the fridge plugged into the 120v? Isn’t that in the gear tunnel? I would like to rig this setup myself. Thank you

There are 2x 120V outlets in the bed and 1 in the cab in addition to the 1 in the gear tunnel.

 

[DJG]

I have a question, not sure if this addressed elsewhere in this thread. How did you get the fridge plugged into the 120v? Isn’t that in the gear tunnel? I would like to rig this setup myself. Thank you

The truck has four 120v outlets: under the rear climate screen, in the gear tunnel, and two on the right side of the bed near the tailgate. It has three 12v outlets: in the frunk, under the main center screen and in the gear tunnel.

 

[DJG]

I totally did misunderstand. I haven't used the plug yet in the bed and I assumed that the vehicle needed to be powered on for the 120v plugs in the bed to be active. Really appreciate he clarification and suggestions. Sounds like for the vast majority of the use cases, just leaving the cooler in the bed will be perfect unless you have a use case for pulling it out of the bed and moving it over to another location while maintaining power. Thank you for the thorough reply!

A decent fridge will be able to maintain relative temp for a few hours without power, so that shouldn't be an issue. You easily move to another plug on the vehicle, or set it up in camp hooked up to a portable power station.

 

[NY_Rob]

It's "Prime Day" and the Iceco JP30 32 quart fridge I've been eyeing dropped $100 today, so I pulled the trigger. I didn't buy it to fit in the R1T as it's really for the boat and will be transported inside the boat not the R1T. But, in any case... going by the specs of the ARB 37QT (16.85" height) fridge that just barely fits under the tonneau it looks like the Iceco JP30 will fit easily under the tonneau at 15" high.

 

[RivianXpress]

It's "Prime Day" and the Iceco JP30 32 quart fridge I've been eyeing dropped $100 today, so I pulled the trigger. I didn't buy it to fit in the R1T as it's really for the boat and will be transported inside the boat not the R1T. But, in any case... going by the specs of the ARB 37QT (16.85" height) fridge that just barely fits under the tonneau it looks like the Iceco JP30 will fit easily under the tonneau at 15" high.

How about this one on sale...?

https://tinyurl.com/4pk2t2dd

 

[NY_Rob]

How about this one on sale...?

https://tinyurl.com/4pk2t2dd

I looked at that one, a bit small for us (family of 4). The cooler we use now on the boat is 28 quarts so I didn't want to get anything smaller then that. The 20 QT model is powered by the same high quality brand compressor (with 5yr warranty) as the Iceco JP30 I ordered.

I also figured the 32 QT version can serve double-duty as a beverage cooler when we have get-together's over the summer removing my chore of running to get ice the morning of the event.

Either cooler should be a great purchase.....

 

[RivianXpress]

Thanks - I picked this up last week on sale for $175 and it seems to fit in the gear tunnel and I can open it from the back seat.

https://tinyurl.com/2uk65zkm

 

[seatosummit]

I think there is a soft pass thru from the gear tunnel- pull the front bed cover liner (8 bolts) and you’ll see a water sealed hole that might serve as a 12v pass thru.

Awesome, I might do that in the future. Thanks for the heads up!

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