Rivians in hot weather -- experience / tips?

[SparkyR1t]

Have driven my R1T on 100 degree days and worked as well as any vehicle I have ever owned.

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[Zoidz]

I wish the windows would "auto-vent" at say 105 degrees & when the window sensor that activates the wipers gets a drop of rain, it auto closes the vented windows...

It would be a nice option to have, at the expense of vampire drain.

 

[JoeGiul]

South Florida. Really needed the shade for the roof. I am tempted to get a Gen 2 just for that feature. Also did the ceramic tint which helped. We try and remember to cool before we get in car.

 

[Riviot]

The HVAC settings are funky but IMO the system works best if you have ALL the vents turned on. Then just point the fronts where you want them. This cools the cabin faster than if you just had the fronts on.

Hot air rises, so cracking the windows and use the floor vents to force hot air out the top, filling your truck from the bottom-up with nice cool air.

 

[SwampNut]

90. How cute.

 

[PVguy]

This our second summer with Opal (our R1T). We live in the Florida Panhandle where the sun is strong and the temperatures and humidity are high.

We have found that the Rivian works well by doing several things. We have totally covered the glass roof with a reflective layer and a black cover. At home, we park Opal under a shade tree. We vent rhe windows during the day. Ten minutes before driving Opal, we turn her a/c on via the smartphone app. By the time we get in Opal, she is at a comfortable temperature.

Brian

Brian, are the roof coverings on the interior or exterior? I have avoided getting an interior roof shade as I think it would be much more effective to reflect the radiation before the glazing.

 

[superfly_snook]

1. The HVAC settings are funky but IMO the system works best if you have ALL the vents turned on. Then just point the fronts where you want them. This cools the cabin faster than if you just had the fronts on.
2. Both in winter & summer it seems to work better when you use ”AUTO” vs. controlling the fan manually. Just adjust the temp.

this has also been my experience in my R1S.

 

[Boo23]

My R1S was terrible, hardly ever got cool and on Auto the fan speed never went to max even if it was 120 in the car and I had the air set to 70, I always had to manually adjust it up. The roof was also a big problem, felt like the top of my head was in an oven doorway with the oven on, a sun shade from Amazon helped with that.

 

[jeeden]

Accept the fact that the compressor may sound loud and you may feel vibration on the pedals when you have a “hot start”. In reality, it’s not much louder than an ICE engine running and it quiets down after a few minutes, but it annoys some people. It’s unlikely there will be a retrofit or repair for the noise concerns, it’s not a defect or safety issue. Gen 1 is Rivian’s first vehicle and as such they missed a few things.

As others have said, sunshades, precooling via the app, and using AUTO mode making sure RECIRC is on goes a long way towards comfort.

With all that said, there is a history with some vehicles, especially R1S, having a low refrigerant charge. My experience with what I believe is a “perfectly“ working AC in my R1S, as well as others, is that it can easily cool from 110 degrees cabin temperature to about 80 in 2 or 3 minutes, and I am at 70 within 4-5 minutes. That’s about the same as my ICE SUVs I have owned. If you are coming from a sedan or coupe, recognize that the air volume and glass area is MUCH larger in the R1S than those vehicles. Manage your expectations to be realistic.

If you have AC on and 10-15 minutes later you are still hot inside, you may have a low charge and service is needed.

Spot on. I think I will just add that they are talking about adjusting the air conditioner response in the sunshine in the next update and enabling three zone a/c this year. A lot of people have found that you need to bump the AC down to 67 or so to really get it to kick and to hide. It really starts to slow down as it approaches the target temperature and if you really want it to be at that target temperature you need to set it a little lower so it doesn't slow down.


I do find it fascinating how everyone has different air conditioning requirements. People putting covers on the glass roof tint (which I have heard is not recommended because it can overheat the roof panel and make it crack by trapping the heat between the factory tint and consumer) and all kinds of crazy stuff. I suppose it depends on how tolerant you are of the heat in general how long you're able to handle the car being hot before it cools off or maybe even if you're coming from a building or structure that has exceptionally cold a/c.

I also think that vehicles in the future will have more robust tinting and a/c systems as climate change makes things warmer.

 

[moosetags]

Brian, are the roof coverings on the interior or exterior? I have avoided getting an interior roof shade as I think it would be much more effective to reflect the radiation before the glazing.

Our is the Rivigear Sunshade. It is mounted on the inside of Opal's glass roof. We purchased this sunshade on Amazon from Rivigear. We took Factory Delivery of Opal in Normal in April, 2023. We had prepurchased the sunshade and installed it on the day that we got her. This has worked very well for us.

I went on my Amazon account and found that this sunshade is no longer available on Amazon.

Brian

 

[SwampNut]

I do find it fascinating how everyone has different air conditioning requirements.

You live in a place that never actually gets hot.

I live in a place where the roof glass radiates very obvious heat onto my head and face for a few months of the year.

 

[madhat]

90. How cute.

I too chuckled.

Worth commenting that if you haven’t used a vehicle with the new 1234Y refrigerant, it has lower capacity than the R134 which has less than R12. Every time we get a more ozone friendly refrigerant, pressure goes up and total capacity diminishes.

 

[PVguy]

Thank you Brian.

 

[tate16t]

Here is your solution.

end of thread /s

Bad solution, No El Cap Granite!

 

[lefkonj]

I had ceramic tints done on all the glass except the roof panel. I didn't even go dark at all, 0% on the windshield. it has made a big difference. With the temps we are expecting not sure anything will help other than ice baths.

Just to add to this. The entire job was about $1200. The roof panel because it is so big would be a special order material and they quoted $1200 just for that, so I passed.

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