1st Tow - Battery Severely Overheated

[MystoBedo]

I recently took my Rivian R1S on its very first towing trip with our Taxa TigerMoth from the Bay Area up to Shelter Cove for the 4th of July. I wanted to share my experience because it was a wild ride of incredible highs and some pretty safety-compromising lows.

THE GOOD: Power, Camping, and Utility

• Towing Power: On the way up, the truck was awesome and got better range than expected probably hitting
• Camp Companion: At camp, the R1S is unmatched. We used theoutlets to power our electric cooler and run an electric tea kettle. Camp Mode was awesome. No more annoyting lights everytime you open the door.
• The Compressor: Two other campers got flat tires from nails, and the built-in air compressor saved the day. (Though it did make me realize how exposed I felt traveling without a spare tire of my own!).

THE Bad: Thermal Issues, Black Screens, and Roadside Assistance

On the return trips is where things took a turn from "adventure" to "survival mode." On the drive home, the charging heat and towing stress pushed the truck to its limits:

1. First Turtle Mode: The truck threw a yellow "Turtle Mode" warning and severely restricted power on the highway after our first fast charge. We actually had to pull over and go for a river swim just to let the battery cool down. It was at 126 degrees. The rest of the day the lowest it got was 113.
2. Battery Overheating & The 69% Limit: At Ukiah RAN charging station, battery got so hot from charging that the truck literally refused to charge past 69% at our DC fast charge stop. Because of this thermal limit, we couldn't get enough range to make it home in one go.
3. Black Screen #1 (A Major Safety Issue): While driving, the center infotainment screen went completely black. No navigation, no climate control, and crucially, no way to monitor the range while towing.
4. Corte Madera RAN Failure (2% SoC): We limped into the Corte Madera RAN charger on absolute fumes—2% battery left. We plugged in, and the car refused to charge. It would start, then immediately shut off. After multiple failed attempts, I had to call Rivian Roadside Assistance. They would tow us, but not the trailer so we waited it out for 30 minutes.
5. Turtle Mode from the Golden Gate Bridge til Pacifica: The second we got through the Golden Gate Bridge it went back into Turtle Mode. We had to drive all the way through SF at 18mph.
6. Black Screen #2: Climbing the final steep hill to my house in the dark, the screens went completely black for a second time. No dash lights, towing a trailer, in Turtle Mode, on a steep grade. Fun!
7. The Magic Recovery: The second we backed into the driveway and parked, the screens flashed back on like nothing had ever happened.

My Questions for the Community:

It's now at the service center and they have found some High Voltage Test anomalies. What does this mean?

• Has anyone else experienced severe thermal throttling (like the 69% charge limit) while towing in moderate/warm weather?
• Is the double infotainment blackout a known bug when the vehicle is under high thermal stress, or does this sound like a specific hardware fault (like a failing 12V battery or computer module)?
• Given this is the second time i've had Black Screen, i don't want them to just give it back with some coolant fix and then the next road trip it happens all over agin.

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[DuoRivians]

Sounds like something is wrong with the car and not normal

 

[CrazyOne]

What were the temperatures? If you want to know if this is normal, that is an important parameter. I don't tow, and never had anything like this.

 

[VSG]

The TigerMoth is tiny and light. No way it stressed your R1S beyond its capabilities. I think the "towing" aspect of this problem is a red herring.

Almost certainly this is a problem with your vehicle's charging hardware. There have been some cases of this, most often when the vehicle is new because things like this tend to fail early if they're going to fail.

For future reference, a hard reset or an infotainment reset might have helped at the time. Also, capturing the vehicle diagnostics, for example at the charger where it stopped at 69%.

 

[MystoBedo]

We infotainment reset at the first turtle mode. Then we hard reset it at the Corte Madera charger when it wouldn't charge at all. Then we infotainment reset it again halfway through San Francisco when we thought it was cool enough that it would drive normal. It didn't. Yeah I'm curious about other people having similar situations and what the actual fix is. Since I've already had the black screen the very first day I bought this used. I don't want some coolant fix again.

 

[SolartoEV]

Yeah that's not a " normal " issue. What year and mileage on the R1?

 

[antimatter]

Usually you have to tow some heavy weight at high speed to cause that much heat in a battery. As some have mentioned, the TigerMoth is a pretty light RV, so unless you were traveling at very high speed you shouldn't have had any issues. I've been pulling heavier RVs with no issues. My battery heat is usually in the upper 1/3 of the heat range, but well below anything critical. Something is definitely going on with your R1S

 

[MystoBedo]

Yeah that's not a " normal " issue. What year and mileage on the R1?

2023 Quad R1S with 33k

 

[MystoBedo]

What were the temperatures? If you want to know if this is normal, that is an important parameter. I don't tow, and never had anything like this.

126 high down to 113. Never went below that until I parked and the adventure was over.

 

[CrazyOne]

126 high down to 113. Never went below that until I parked and the adventure was over.

I meant the ambient temperature.

 

[MystoBedo]

I meant the ambient temperature.

High 80's - 90.

 

[CrazyOne]

High 80's - 90.

Not normal. Likely something wrong. Try to repeat the test, L3 charging at similar temps. Also open SC ticket.

 

[Proxy]

I had something similar once but not towing. Charged up in Baker, CA on a really hot day. Battery temp was high. Pulled out of the parking lot and turtle mode. Battery temp was red. We let it sit for a few minutes and haven’t had a problem since (more than 10,000 miles since then). I’ve also had to do a hard reset once in Tucson when it refused to charge (20,000 miles ago). I didn’t have any problems at those two RAN locations this week except I managed to park at the NACS plug at Corte Madera and had to use my adapter. (I think Ukiah only has NACS).

 

[Indy avocado]

I've done a fair bit of towing and have never experienced anything like this. Absolutely open a service ticket. There's either a battery issue, a cooling issue, or a massive software bug. This is well within the expected use case of the R1S.

What were the temperatures? If you want to know if this is normal, that is an important parameter. I don't tow, and never had anything like this.

It's not normal regardless of temperatures (unless maybe we're talking summer in Death Valley).

 

[MystoBedo]

Thanks everyone. It's helpful to know this isn't common. It's at Rivian now. They have found some battery issues. Basically both of my road trips since owning this in Feb have resulted in problems. I'm definitely less trusting of it and it's a serious danger to have screens go black while driving. I'll report back what the fix is. Last time with the black screen they just said bubbles in the coolant. Likely it was a battery issue then as well.

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