1st Tow - Battery Severely Overheated

[Trinculo73]

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%.

Agreed, I tow a Taxa Cricket almost every weekend and it barely touches the truck's capabilities. I've towed much larger and heavier trailers in the past without issue as well.

Unfortunately this vehicle has some issues and hopefully the SC will be able to resolve them.

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[justinkitswa]

Our R1S would overheat during DC fast charing in the summer in the Sacramento area - we weren't towing. Couldn't get it to charge above 60%.

The problem is the lithium in the battery is a huge thermal mass, and once it heats up from heavy charge or discharge, the thermal management system in the R1 platform isn't up to the task of rejecting that heat quicker than it's being generated.

I'd open a service request and make sure they are aware of the issues. I opened a NHTSA ticket when my screens blanked out during driving- if enough of us do this, they will investigate and force a recall for Rivian to fix it.

 

[MD89]

Sounds like more of an electrical issue, but this reminds me of when my R1S coolant tank leaked this winter in Tahoe while prewarming and I saw the blue coolant leaking in the garage so had a clue to what happened. Rivian roadside assistance only offered to tow the car (to Reno, which was closest to Tahoe, but I live in San Francisco), they could not tell me how to check the coolant tank (and I just asked Rivian AI assistant now and they could not either), but the internet and google AI could, and it was almost empty. I decided to just risk it and drive the car home (since it was downhill and winter) and monitor the battery and motor temps. Luckily it made it home fine and the service center in South SF found a coolant leak and fixed it. What concerned me was that while driving home, there was no warning light about a low coolant level, and I would have never known it was leaking or low if the leak had started on the road rather than in my garage. Interestingly, there was a coolant issue recall about a month later, and I had to bring it to S. SF again (how many times I've been there for recalls, etc. in the past year and a half of owning it is another story). If anyone has overheating issues, I would definitely check the coolant tank. You have to lift up the plastic panel near the windshield wiper fluid opening in the frunk. Good luck with your fix.

 

[CrazyOne]

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.


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

That's exactly why I asked, if we are talking about Death Valley temperatures.

 

[scissormetimberz]

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

Curious what you consider a good ambient battery temp? In MA during the heat wave last week inside my garage which was hot, like 90, but not 105 like outside, it didn't get below 80 in my brand new R1S when checking the next AM. Later when the weather cooled i saw it started at about 70. Im trying to figure out an expected baseline

 

[VandalSibs]

Curious what you consider a good ambient battery temp? In MA during the heat wave last week inside my garage which was hot, like 90, but not 105 like outside, it didn't get below 80 in my brand new R1S when checking the next AM. Later when the weather cooled i saw it started at about 70. Im trying to figure out an expected baseline

It's gonna be so variable that a 'baseline' is hard to say without being a battery engineer at Rivian.

With that in mind, I'm in E. Washington state and the temps here have been in the 80s and 90s over the last week. My garage is semi-insulated (and detached), it can get pretty warm in there. The battery on my Gen1 R1T has been starting in the 70* range.

Honestly, if the battery temp indicator on the screen isn't red (the bar and number change color), there's nothing to really worry about, unless a random issue pops up (like this thread). If something does, Rivian will start diagnosing it once you request service. Heck, maybe even sooner if the vehicle pings them with an error.

 

[CrazyOne]

Curious what you consider a good ambient battery temp? In MA during the heat wave last week inside my garage which was hot, like 90, but not 105 like outside, it didn't get below 80 in my brand new R1S when checking the next AM. Later when the weather cooled i saw it started at about 70. Im trying to figure out an expected baseline

I was checking if this happened in triple digit Death Valley like temperatures. IIRC, Rivian hitting cooling limits in very high temperatures isn't unexpected, I don't know about other brands. The problems here are more severe than I have heard before though.

On my recent L3 charge session, I think battery got to 115. It doesn't show temperature while charging, but showed that temp immediately after that. Charging speed was not affected.

 

[MystoBedo]

We also started turning off "future charging locations" and just using the phone for driving directions because we were concerned the "preparing the vehicle for charging" would further reduce the cars ability to cool down. I don't know how accurate this is but as we were already having so many problems it seemed like one less thing to let the car do. Then when the screen goes black, you can tell how fast you are driving. LOL.

 

[MystoBedo]

Odd - NHTSA site - Unknown error on VIN and when entering license plate:
We're sorry, we could not locate the vehicle associated with the license plate you entered.
Please try to enter your vehicle identification number then confirm, or call our Vehicle Safety Hotline at 888-327-4236 for assistance.

Our R1S would overheat during DC fast charing in the summer in the Sacramento area - we weren't towing. Couldn't get it to charge above 60%.

The problem is the lithium in the battery is a huge thermal mass, and once it heats up from heavy charge or discharge, the thermal management system in the R1 platform isn't up to the task of rejecting that heat quicker than it's being generated.

I'd open a service request and make sure they are aware of the issues. I opened a NHTSA ticket when my screens blanked out during driving- if enough of us do this, they will investigate and force a recall for Rivian to fix it.

 

[Oldsmobile_Mike]

If anyone has overheating issues, I would definitely check the coolant tank. You have to lift up the plastic panel near the windshield wiper fluid opening in the frunk.

This is a dumb ask, but since it sounds like you already know exactly where this is, would you happen to have a picture you can share in the thread?

 

[justinkitswa]

Battery preconditioning will also cool the battery if it's too warm for optimal charging.

The charging logic tries to predict the amount of heat that will be generated in the pack during charging, and either heats or cools the pack to a target temperature that results in the most efficient charge curve.

I always put in the charging destinations when on road trips - because the pack will still be above target temperature from the prior charge by the time you reach the next charging location, especially when towing and consuming lots of kwh's.

 

[VSG]

We also started turning off "future charging locations" and just using the phone for driving directions because we were concerned the "preparing the vehicle for charging" would further reduce the cars ability to cool down.

Preconditioning works to bring the battery into the optimal temperature range for charging. This can mean heating the battery, but it also can mean cooling the battery. It also can mean doing NOTHING AT ALL if the battery is already in the proper temperature range.

Preconditioning can save you some time at the charger, because you do have to bring the battery into the correct temperature range whether you do it while you are driving or whether you do it while plugged in. Doing it while plugged in simply lengthens your stay at the charger.

Preconditioning will use some of the battery's stored energy if it needs to heat or cool the battery, so the only time I turn it off is if I'm going to be at a very low battery level when I hit the next charger and need to conserve my battery to have some cushion to get there. I think that's happened to me only two or three times in the past four years.

Battery preconditioning will also cool the battery if it's too warm for optimal charging.

Exactly.

 

[SANZC02]

It's gonna be so variable that a 'baseline' is hard to say without being a battery engineer at Rivian.

With that in mind, I'm in E. Washington state and the temps here have been in the 80s and 90s over the last week. My garage is semi-insulated (and detached), it can get pretty warm in there. The battery on my Gen1 R1T has been starting in the 70* range.

Honestly, if the battery temp indicator on the screen isn't red (the bar and number change color), there's nothing to really worry about, unless a random issue pops up (like this thread). If something does, Rivian will start diagnosing it once you request service. Heck, maybe even sooner if the vehicle pings them with an error.

Did you hear the cooling system for the BMS? When I’m in the desert and temps start getting over 102 or so there is a distinct noise that you can’t miss with the vehicle working to cool the batteries. It pretty much is on whenever I drive in those high temperatures. I did not see where you indicated you could hear that during your drive.

 

[VandalSibs]

Did you hear the cooling system for the BMS? When I’m in the desert and temps start getting over 102 or so there is a distinct noise that you can’t miss with the vehicle working to cool the batteries. It pretty much is on whenever I drive in those high temperatures. I did not see where you indicated you could hear that during your drive.

Not usually - but I also drive with the AC on because I personally don't tolerate heat very well (or why I only visit my parents down in Arizona on the beginning and ending months of the year).

 

[MD89]

This is a dumb ask, but since it sounds like you already know exactly where this is, would you happen to have a picture you can share in the thread?

Here's a link to a reddit post that shows it. Click on the main photo, then the arrow to the right to see the spherical tank with the mix/max line.

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