Rivian Project: Modifying Bed for Cozy Stealth Camping in R1T GFC Camper

Rivian Blue · 2025-04-01T08:59:34+00:00

Ever since I got my R1S, I've noticed that the battery range estimation hasn't been the best. Driving a Tesla for the last 3 years, it never had this kind of issue. During my last trip, the driver display shows 255mi remaining. My total trip (including 2 destinations) is 160mi so I believed I should be able to make it easily with a nice cushion. But the center display showed that I would arrive at first destination with 4mi remaining, and run out before the second destination! I knew this was false so I made the drive anyway, and arrived at second destination with 50mi remaining. If I understand correctly, the driver display range is simply the total rated range multiplied by SOC. That makes sense here, since my vehicle is rated for 370mi, 255mi is 68.9%. Coming from Tesla, I expect the number shown in the center display should account for factors like elevation, wind, traffic speed, etc. It's sad that my own mental estimation is better than Rivian's.

Vincent

Active Wheeler

Feb 14, 2025

This occured about 2 weeks ago when I assisted a friend with a project on his truck. Which was to make the truck bed cozy for stealth camping in his GFC.

So we cut up and glued some cheap anti-fatigue mats from Harbor Freight to flatten out and pad the truck bed, then added a cheap outdoor mat from Home Depot.

We also added his "house battery" system to the bed of the truck. He wanted a privacy curtain for the rear window which we did arrange and in the process, he learned some basic sewing machine work haha.

I saw him playing around with his own 3d printed mount points/ ram ball locations for mounting his Starlink Mini. It was from him I got the idea to mount a Starlink on my truck and I think that'd be my next project. Below are some pictures of I took of the completed process.