Powered 40 qt Frunk Cooler and 12 gal Water Tank w/ washdown sprayer concept (by @BoxGods)

[eshort1429]

very well done!

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[Blueassassin]

We just need to ad a hood scoop to cool the fridge.

 

[endress14]

We have posted here as a way to find out how much interest there is in the Rivian community for a project like this. If it turns out there are enough people who want one to move forward we will set up some sort of reservation / pre-order list and post about it in here.

Count me in as high level of interest. Have the 12v plug fyi

 

[adamthp]

Interested!

 

[HokieBird7980]

I'd be interested provided the physics skeptics can be proven wrong. Worst case scenario will it fit under the tonneau cover in the rear. Can you provide current dimensions? I'm still waiting on camp kitchen, so gear tunnel is probably taken up. Cramming foldable e-bike under tonneau in back, rooftop tent above the bed, but need a good spot to put the cooler. Plenty of room for air circulation back in the bed.

 

[mrfari]

Interested as well! love the look.

 

[Acoustic71]

Interested and well done. The entrepreneurial spirit lives!

 

[Hindley_Milner]

Couldn't it be ventilated out the drain plug?

 

[Madsen203]

Couldn't it be ventilated out the drain plug?

You still need an intake. A drain plug would probably net .5CFPM and be highly inefficient. Custom tub with 3” computer fans would do the trick. Someone put a wireless meat probe in there and drive around in the summer/fall months and report back. I bet it gets warm in there.

 

[Hindley_Milner]

Could use two cheap CPU or GPU-sized radiators. Closed-loop, cheap, ubiquitous, lines will go through the plug. Could be an overoptimization though.

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Didn't read the whole thread since I'm short on time atm, but put me down as an interested party. I've got a pre-12k VIN and assuming the price for this is reasonable, I'd definitely be interested.

 

[jjswan33]

You still need an intake. A drain plug would probably net .5CFPM and be highly inefficient. Custom tub with 3” computer fans would do the trick. Someone put a wireless meat probe in there and drive around in the summer/fall months and report back. I bet it gets warm in there.

It the summer months it gets very warm in there, without a fridge. A fridge in there for long periods without ventilation exacerbates that. In fact recently I left my IceGo in the front trunk while I was on a ~4 hour hike on a warm day (not hot) and the truck was in the shade. During that time the cooler used over 200Wh which means the compressor was running constantly.

 

[BoxGods]

This is what I was thinking as well. As it is, it gets pretty warm in the front. I brought some wine home in the frunk recently on a trip and it was alarmingly warm when I got it to the house. All that additional trapped hot air is gonna make it really really warm in there. I am guessing that this is the reason Rivian dropped the 12v outlet in the frunk. Maybe folks were putting electric coolers in there and getting poor results.

I wonder if there is a way to vent the compressor out through a hole punched in the tub or even place the condenser remotely, outside of the tub.

The way I would approach this would be to make a whole replacement module for the tub. Maybe add a little insulation and vent the hot air out though the fender well vents.

Don't get me wrong. This this looks really sweet. I hope it works out.

The tooling (injection mold tooling) alone for that tub would likely be well north of $200k. To put that in perspective, if you sold 500 units that would be $400 each just to cover the tooling--that doesn't include the cost to actually produce the parts.

As I have mentioned, there are people already running electric coolers in the frunk that have not had any issues.

https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/threads/vehicle-fridge-temperature-impact-in-frunk.5074/

The cooler is super insulated while the frunk has no insulation. The refrigeration unit has dual fans--one for the condenser and one for the compressor itself. It is also a true dual zone system--there are two additional air moving fans between the compartments for increased efficiency.

Rivian has already routed cooling air around the frunk on the underside that exits via vents into the front wheel wells so the frunk--which is not insulated--acts almost as a heat sink. Plastic is not a great thermal transfer material compared to copper or aluminum obviously but the frunk has a really large surface area to dissipate heat.

For normal spring/summer/fall camping trips with ambient temperatures from say 60F to 90F there is basically nothing special required for normal cooler operation. If you are planning a trip to Death Valley in August and it is going to be 110 F outside you would want to plan a bit better. Put in fully frozen / already cold items. Maybe add a few ziplock bags of ice that you will want for your cold drinks anyway. When you are at your campsite leave the frunk cracked open a bit so hot air can escape. Aka common sense stuff.

 

[BoxGods]

I love this and it looks great!
I would just like to throw in a request for a custom cooler for the gear tunnel as well. I do cram an alpicool in there at an angle, but a custom shape and longer design would have much more storage. And it doesn't get as hot in there as the frunk.

That would be an interesting project also and if the frunk cooler goes well I will certainly have a look at it. The concern for me would be that Rivian owners into camping will opt for the camp kitchen which means the gear tunnel is occupied.

 

[PastyPilgrim]

The dilemma: I want to subscribe to this thread to get a preorder link, but it's so popular that I don't want the firehose of notifications for all the comments here.

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