Developing new products
Our best ideas for products are the ones that solve a problem we're experiencing. We wanted a gear tunnel kitchen but couldn't buy one, so we made one. We wanted to be able to haul stuff in the backseat without mucking up the upholstery, so we created a cover for the storage bin to regain the cargo space.
More recently, we’ve been trying to figure out how to reach items deep in the truck's bed without having to climb in. Especially when we have our Roofnest mounted over the bed of the truck, there’s really no way to get to items stashed in the truck bed. We needed to make something that let us slide items forward. But there were some design constraints that we needed to consider. The usable space below the powered tonneau cover is less than 17 inches. We use every bit of that space for our Yeti Tundra 65 ice chest and our Dometic CFX3 35 powered cooler. So, whatever we came up with would have to be very low profile. We also needed to ensure we could still access the spare tire storage space without uninstalling the sliders.
Early this year, Matthew took a crack at the first prototype with scrap plywood. At this point, he was just trying to create something to make our lives easier. And it mostly worked. After testing the concept for a few months, he started troubleshooting some issues, ordered better glides, and started working on a 3D model to send to our laser cutter. The prototype we got back had some issues, but it was yet another proof of concept. More revisions, more CAD work, and more phone calls with the laser cutters, and we’re about a week away from picking up the (fingers crossed) final prototype.
The feedback from folks at Electrify Expo was almost as enthusiastic as the reaction to our Overland Kitchen! Clearly we’ve hit upon a solution to an issue that lots of Rivian drivers experience. And the results of of our online poll overwhelming point to the majority of folks wanting a powder-coated finish. We agree that’s the right call.
We can’t wait to see the final version and share it with all of you!
