Any automaker can make an electric vehicle, but for Rivian, it is positioning itself as the maker of “world’s first electric adventure vehicles” and with that, it has designed a camp stove add-on for its upcoming Rivian R1T electric pickup truck to, you know, cement its status as adventurers’ vehicle. The company has brought the R1T outfitted with the pullout kitchen to the Overland West at Fort Tuthill County Park in Flagstaff, Arizona, U.S.A. to show adventure enthusiasts the future of off-road adventure. It was also the first electric vehicle to grace the event.
The kitchen is, naturally, electrically powered and draws the juice it requires from the vehicle’s 180 kWh battery pack. The concept is cool, but the thought of having to share the precious juice with your English breakfast is kind of unnerving because, unlike gasoline vehicle, the vehicle will be in serious trouble if it ran out of juice. Personally, I would rather conserve the precious battery power for getting out of the wilderness. But that’s just me.
Though the company did say that even if you use the vehicle’s battery to power the lights and for whipping up meals for over a week, it would only use 11 percent of the battery’s available capacity. That’s kind of reassuring, but still, my trust issues with electronics and battery performance will prevent me from doing that. I’d bring along a gas stove, if I were to ride into the wilderness in a R1T.
Anywho, the pullout kitchen resides in a thing called “gear tunnel” that is located between the twin cab and truck bed, and it (the kitchen unit) includes storage, a stove, and a narrow countertop. The introduction of the pullout kitchen also answers the question of the use of the gear tunnel that have been lingering in some people’s mind since the unveiling of the electric pickup truck.
Images: Rivian.
Source: Engadget.
