Munro & Associates, the enginerds who tear apart cars to figure out how they’re built and how much they cost, have temporarily stepped away from their Ti-89s to place their hands on a Rivian R1T electric pickup truck. The team has begun its teardown, so let’s have a peek at what they’ve discovered so far.
I remember the first time I visited Munro & Associates; I was a 20 year-old intern in Chrysler Group, LLC’s (as it was then called) Advanced Concepts Engineering team, and my job was to study saddle-style gas tanks and different packaging setups for Power Transfer Units (Chrysler was considering an all-wheel drive variant of the RU platform that underpins the Pacifica). I recall attending classes that Munro was teaching FCA engineers, and I remember being reprimanded — a year after my internship, when I came on full time in a different group — when the Ford Explorer PTU that I’d checked out as an intern never made its way back to Munro. (I still have no clue what happened with that thing).
Anyway, after my two-year stint leading cooling system design for the JL Wrangler, I joined the circus over at the famous German lighting company, and started writing about cars. “Man, readers have no idea how much cool shit happens in the auto industry” was one of my first thoughts while working my new job. Among the cool things I wanted readers to see was benchmarking, specifically Munro’s benchmarking and costing analyses. In the summer of 2016, I’d run into Kevin, one of the many enginerds at Munro, while off-roading in the woods of northern Michigan, and we’d exchanged info so I could swing by Munro for a story. So in the fall of 2016, I stopped by to see what I’d remembered from my engineering days: thousands of parts just hanging on huge white pegboards, tables covered in suspension control arms and electronics and powertrain bits, detailed diagrams with dimensions and manufacturing processes spelled out — Munro was an engineer’s paradise, so I wasn’t surprised when my story on the company enraptured so many readers. Munro does cool stuff.
I don’t know why I’m writing any of this; possibly because Munro’s president, Cory Steuben, talks a bit about our history at the end of this Rivian R1T teardown intro video (thanks for the shoutout!), which I will now briefly summarize:
Right away, Cory and Sandy show off something cool: That front trim piece ahead of the frunk is actually held on by magnets!
This is bizarre, as almost every other company uses plastic clips to hold on plastic trim/closeout panels. In fact, just the other week I was talking about how Ford was using two-piece clips to affix the F-150 Lightning’s plastic trim that surrounds the frunk. I even mentioned my distaste for the fastener choice, since it was so easy to drop a clip into the dark abyss between the frunk and the inner fender/firewall (Sorry Ford, that clip is gone):
Sandy and Cory note that Rivian’s strategy here is novel, but a bit expensive — not just because magnets cost more than little plastic clips, but also because the magnets require ferrous provisions on the front end module. And not just on the main upper cross-car member, but also on the headlights; this, Cory notes, just adds complexity to the manufacturing process:
“I’d use 3M Dual Lock,” chirps Sandy. This is essentially a velcro-style setup, and I totally see why Munro & Associates’ boss would suggest that. So long as there are locating features in the trim piece to make sure it sits exactly where it should (and that’s one of the advantages of the magnet setup, I assume — the piece will want to center itself), that velcro-style tape should work well. And it’s cheap. I’m not entirely sure why some regular ol’ Christmas Tree fasteners and some holes wouldn’t do the job, here; maybe it’s an aesthetics thing since this is a class-A surface?
Cory mentions that the two little plastic boxes (which hold electronics for the light and the federally-mandated frunk release switch) hot-staked to the enormous injection-mold that makes up the frunk could be the same piece instead of two different shapes. This, he notes, could save Rivian some cash.
I’m glad Cory mentioned hot-staking, because I was looking for that term recently when trying to remove the fabric part of my a 1994 Jeep Grand Cherokee ZJ’s door trim. This bit:
Unfortunately, flipping the panel over revealed that the fabric bit won’t come off, as it’s been heat-staked. It’s actually quite an elegant way to join two pieces:
Heat-staking is basically like plastic welding in that it involves mating two pieces (with at least one of them being plastic) by heating up and pressurizing one of the plastic parts to create a joint that requires no additional parts, won’t rattle or squeak, and features a nice, clean look. This diagram from British manufacturing company Goudsmit shows how it works:
Here’s the process in video form:
Anyway, by using the same little plastic boxes heat-staked to the tub, Rivian may be able to save a few pennies, as reducing the number of unique parts reduces overall vehicle complexity and cost. It’s one of the many things that Munro frequently points out as a key cost-reduction measure, along with things like using the right materials in the right locations, using the right manufacturing processes to build certain parts, reducing steps needed to build a component or system (often by reducing the total number of parts used), reducing fastener count/using cheaper fasteners when possible, and so on.
Removing the frunk reveals some nice hardware: chillers and inverters and motor mounts and ABS pumps, and all sorts of coolant and refrigerant lines. Plus, you can see vents in the wheel liners to help facilitate airflow through the front heat exchangers (it reduces pressure aft of the heat exchangers, facilitating flow) — like Sandy points out, the way these parts are laid out just looks good. And yeah, the typical owner is never going to see these bits, but how something is presented under the skin can also play into “perceived quality,” so it all matters. Plus, as Cory points out, many of the coolant lines are short, and they’re made of nylon (lightweight compared to rubber) with quick disconnects, which are easier to assemble and, if I had to guess, less likely to spring leaks than constant-tension springs (which the Rivian has a few of, Cory points out).
Cory also points out that Rivian uses a traditional air-to-refrigerant condenser out front rather than a liquid-cooled condenser (which basically just uses a radiator out front to cool liquid coolant, which flows into a liquid-cooled condenser that looks like the chiller pointed out above). As Cory says, a liquid-cooled condenser would allow the entire refrigerant system to be tightly-packaged; Rivian’s approach requires long lines and hoses to the front of the vehicle. I’m curious to know why Rivian made this choice; I used to work directly with the head of Rivian’s thermal team (a sharp dude) so I have no doubt there was some good thought put into the design.
Cory and Sandy also talk about the R1T’s body, pointing out the structure attached to the outside of the frame rails, which is there to make sure that the very outer 25 percent of the vehicle’s front end is tied in with its main structure; this helps the truck pass the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s rigorous Small Overlap Rigid Barrier (SORB) crash test.
Cory also notes the main upper rail (the “shotgun”) — a part that’s normally tied in with a vehicle’s body and that’s normally hydroformed (see video above; it basically uses hydraulic working fluid to press metal into the desired shape) — is made of a different material than the aluminum body (it’s steel) and is not hydroformed (It almost looks stamped and welded? — see image after the one below).
I showed a shotgun rail in my Ford F-150 Lightning review as a way to demonstrate just how much body structure the Lightning shares in common with its gasoline counterpart. Have a look:
Check out that review to see more images of those F-150 Lightning rails; they’re nice and smooth — quite a contrast to the Rivian’s shotgun rails, which feature lots of welds:
Cory and Sandy also note that Rivian uses multiple brackets/jumpers to tie the outer fender to the shotgun rail. Sandy says he reckon’s there’s opportunity for parts reduction, here. Plus, you see those round indentations in the outer fender that tie it to the narrow bracket? Those are Tog-L-Loc Clinchings, three-step processes that clamp, draw, and lock two pieces of metal together without using fasteners or welds.
In the video, the engineering duo gets into into lots more detail, talking about how the Rivian uses unique fasteners (a big no-no, when it’s avoidable), Cory shows a headlight access lid that seems entirely unnecessary/costly, there’s also an overly-expensive cast aluminum bracket holding the front end module to the shotgun rail — it’s all great stuff, so watch the video and get nerdy.
I’m pumped to see more as the team at Munro & Associates continues to tear into Rivian’s impressive pickup.
Wonder if the frunk pours water from the hood after a rain directly onto the fuse box like the lightning?
I find these companies like Munro fascinating. I know it will never happen, but what if a company made a car that was designed from the outset to be easily serviced, easy to replace sections in small crashes/impacts, easy to replace and refinish outer panels, etc. Perhaps have it registered with independent insurance companies and mechanics to receive low premiums (due to easily replaced and repaired sections and crash compliance) and lower maintenance with user serviceability and ease of repair. Imagine if a car that you could keep for 15-20 years would be kind to you with repairs and insurance.
The exterior design should be easy since it’s obviously easy to make something better looking then a BMW these days
Porsche of all companies actually created a prototype hatchback based along those lines in the 80s
https://automobile.fandom.com/wiki/Porsche_FLA
Looks like a lot of my homebrew mods installed on my JK Wrangler.
I was actually a little surprised at how well this review went. Knowing about their engineering process and the usual EV start up issues. EV companies that are trying to reinvent the wheel often face issues with manufacturability or make things overcomplicated because they do not have the experienced engineers that the established automakers have. For as long as it has taken for the R1 to become a reality, you would have thought they would have done some Generative design on the shotgun and other parts to make them stronger with less parts. Tesla has a lot of manual welds in their vehicles that are of poor quality because they do not design for manufacturabilty. I think you nailed it on the head with the statement that the magnets used on the FRUNK trim piece is so that it will autoposition itself. So the magnets might cost more but what would the cost be to re-engineer the part with reinforcements and locating sections on the back of the trim piece and matching holes in the body panels? Probably a wash.
The shotgun not being hydroformed isn’t actually a surprise – a few companies have started going away from the hydroforms as of late – current GM full size trucks being one, using a welded assembly.
Hydroforms are expensive and take a good bit of tweaking to nail the dimensionals on, but they also do not seem to do as well as people would have hoped with SORB. Sometimes they do, but other times they just…bend. Once you add in all the necessary gussets and reinforcements to make it work, you’d have spent half as much for a welded assembly that weighs less.
I seem to remember Sandy Munroe gushing (or at least expressing delight) over the Changli’s pragmatic engineering. Apparently he never looked at the electrical under the front seat?
Are you talking about the 100%-recycled, dielectric pad on top of the batteries? 😉
(ie the bit of cardboard from a random box)
My complaint against Munroe is that his number one priority often seems to be cost. While it’s important, it’s often not the most important. Take the magnets for example. I think it’s a classy touch to a relatively expensive vehicle; something befitting the cost. Is it something the average Rivian customer will appreciate that is worth the cost? I have no idea. But his suggestion to use the 3M Dual Lock instead completely ignores the differences of the two options. Sure, it’s a valid alternative, but it’s not without it’s differences. He does this shit all the time.
Yes, he can often appreciate good engineering–even if it isn’t the cheapest–but Munroe is someone I see more well liked by beancounters than he is by engineers.
As an engineer, I couldn’t agree more. These guys seem more like the people who’s job is to rein in the engineers whenever they want to do something interesting.
“Yeah, sure, that would improve reliability/performance/decrease complexity, but it would add 5 cents to our manufacturing costs, so NO!! Here’s the component designed 30 years ago and made by the lowest bidder, which will fail right after warranty expires, that we’re gonna use”
That’s what the oem they work for is looking. A 20 cents economy can justify developing a new part. It is all about cost. That’s why they do not paint anymore many chassis or suspension parts like knuckles, cv joints and it looks like shit from new.
Nice! Sandy’s wearing an Autopian T-shirt.
This article got linked to on Fark… You guys have really hit the big time now
I spent many years working for tier one suppliers, and visited a competitor (or at least a company similarly doing tear downs like this) several times – was always one of the favorite parts of my job.
Worked on a number of Tesla/Rivian/Other “startup” EV company programs – it was really a complete 180 vs dealing with the traditional automakers. I was in a sales role, but worked closely with engineers…these companies were always sooooo much leaner in terms of manpower. Companies like Rivian and Lucid impressed me for the most part, but it always surprised me to see these projects come to fruition. On the other hand, I spent time working with companies like Karma and Nikola…and was less impressed.
Yeah, that German lighting place is hella crazy
Also, fuck heat staking
“Ford Explorer PTU that I’d checked out as an intern never made its way back to Munro. (I still have no clue what happened with that thing).”
I’m sure its rusting somewhere on your property.
“with quick disconnects, which are easier to assemble and, if I had to guess, less likely to spring leaks than constant-tension springs”
Not a fan of quick disconnects at all, sure they’re quicker but I’m willing to bet they leak far more often than spring clamps. Ford used these on my 2014 F-150 (and I assume many other cars) and at around 110k, likely due to heat cycles, vibration, and just age, one of them started to leak. (Very common problem) The fitting is a Y with two quick disconnects and one spring clamp and the O-ring kit is an off the shelf item (telling) with three O-rings (also telling considering the truck only needs two, it’s a common enough problem that they sell one kit with extra parts to cover multiple applications). And the icing on the cake in order to replace the O-rings on the Y, you need to disconnect the quick connect at the expansion tank (o-ring not included in kit), and so now that the Y is fixed, the expansion tank fitting leaks. I’ve replaced this O-ring as well now with what I thought was the same size, but surprise surprise, it still leaks. Know what type of system I’ve never experienced leaks with? Constant tension clamps.
I’ve also always found them a giant pain in the ass to actually, you know, disconnect. Every time I’ve had to deal with one I’ve tried various purpose-built quick disconnect tools, and then eventually given up in frustration and just cut a slit in some clear tubing and used that instead. My understanding is that they’re just easier to assemble during manufacturing, and that’s it.
My guess is the AC compressor is run to a separate heat exchanger in order to get a lower temp cold sink. If you’re dumping the heat from the refrigerant into the liquid coolant, that coolant is going to be higher than ambient or you’re going to have to run another chiller to cool the coolant below ambient (if it’s on the same circuit as the batteries and you’re running at high ambients). Either way, should be more efficient.
“Auto PEE in”?!?!
Ok, what is repairable when something breaks and how difficult will it be. Plus what labor rates are being estimated for mechanics.
The more complex these EVs are the more I like older vehicles. If I had the money, which I don’t, which EV is cost effective and repairable so I can save gas for my old cars and bikes.
“It gets pretty toasty here in TX but we haven’t broken 80C yet”
Maybe not air temperature but you may have on surfaces given such surface temperatures are not unheard of in also sunny Arizona:
“When you look at hot pavement or asphalt at two o’clock in the afternoon in direct sunlight, the temperature (of the surface) is usually somewhere around 170 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit.”
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-weather/2021/06/10/warning-high-temperatures-mean-hot-surfaces-can-burn-you-officials-say/7640947002/
Having visited both Texas and Arizona I have experienced how Hellishly hot both places can get.
I’m glad to see the continued success of Munro & Associates. I first met Sandy around 1987/88 at his facility when his company was a small operation. At that time, I was working in the advance manufacturing organization at one of the Detroit Three OEMs. Our department’s charge was to provide the design office and engineering with guidelines and recommendations on product design by employing DFMA, PFMEA, complexity reduction, and other principles to improve products and processes. The guidelines included everything from the radius on a stamping, to electrical connector design, to manufacturing, stamping, and assembly processes. We had responsibility to ensure that the guidelines and recommendations were implemented for the entire vehicle, from concept through launch. Munro & Associates was an important partner in our development and refinement of guidelines, moving our company past the Not Invented Here/Over the Wall mindset that was SOP in the domestic auto industry at that time.
“Heat-staking is basically like plastic welding in that it involves mating two pieces (with at least one of them being plastic) by heating up and pressurizing one of the plastic parts to create a joint that requires no additional parts, won’t rattle or squeak, and features a nice, clean look. This diagram from British manufacturing company Goudsmit shows how it works:”
Riveting stuff!
I have a personal vendetta against heat staking, so goddammit it’s time to air my grievances.
A couple years back, I had to replace my laptop’s keyboard. This is one of the most common laptop repairs and should therefore be simple, right? Nope!
To start, you have to take the entire thing apart. The keyboard comes out the bottom, and the entire rest of the computer’s internals are in the way. So I take the dumb thing apart and finally reach the keyboard. It’s held in by three screws. I unscrew them. It does not budge, because THE BLASTED THING IS HEAT-STAKED TO THE COMPUTER’S BODY IN 30 PLACES.
So what should be a simple repair turns into a gross, plasticky nightmare as I drill out all the heat stakes and attempt to secure the new keyboard without their use.
tl;dr heat stakes bad.
Let it out, Daaan. Let it out.
I am also happy to drunkenly slobber in your general direction for half an hour about how two-piece clips are better than standard Christmas trees.
More people need to hear about the wonders of 2 piece plastic fasteners.
I dig the reusability. But how often are folks taking those panels off REALLY?
The 3M tape has issues. Most often the adhesive bond breaks down so that the grip of the “velcro” is stronger than the adhesive-to-surface holding strength.
So there are different, many many different kinds of high strength hook and loop. Most of what holds overhead compartments on airplanes is hook and loop. BUT there are so many different types that sometimes it’s really hard to figure out which is the right one. Directionality is crucial on some of them. I wonder if your boot soles were affixed in the wrong direction, but I do know that most of the high strength hook and loop fasteners have very very specific life expectancy-like 2 or 3. See the Porsche example…
How does one delete a comment?
Anyway, if the 3M tape has issues, it’s either poor surface preparation or the wrong tape. I build long lifed (Ie as long as I’m alive it will be fine) structures with the stuff.
So, fun fact: Porsche 997.2’s exclusively use Velcro and mechanical interlocking for the entire front trunk trim. All of it.
Why? Because it has to come off. Often. The battery cover uses two twist-knobs which mechanically lock against the outer trim panels. That comes off the most often. But the two outer panels have to come off once a year, and are held on with a combination of mechanical locating and velcro. The passenger side must be removed to change the cabin air filter, access the blower, or remove the battery. The driver side must be removed to perform brake fluid flushing more easily and because you poured half a gallon of windshield wiper fluid into it. (Shush. I was distracted.)
And yes, the Velcro has issues over time. But when you order new frunk trim, Porsche helpfully includes both sides of the Velcro with fresh adhesive. But they do not provide the apparently mythical solvent required to clean up the old gunk.
My 997.1 is very similar, at least with the mechanical twist-knobs. Very handy.
Much of the carpeting in my Miata is held on with color-matched two-piece plastic fasteners. What you do is use a fingernail or knifeblade to lift up the inner part of the two concentric circles, which pulls a wedge out from inside the middle of the fastener and allows the outer part to compress enough that you can pull the whole fastener out. They’re not as invisible as Velcro, but they’re still pretty darn discreet and they still work perfectly fine after 26 years and who knows how many inexpert removals and reinstallations by yours truly,
When I was a solar site tech (the chap who would come measure your roof with a tape measure and no safety rope when you wanted some solar panels) I *briefly* wore Cougar Paws, a type of boot designed for roof work with VERY grippy, soft, squishy soles. (Think rubber sponges on your feet.) The soles on Cougar Paws are so soft though that they wear down rapidly and need to be replaced, so they are attached to the shoes with basically Dual Lock and you are expected to buy replacement soles regularly.
The thing is, if there’s one thing about Velcro it’s that the more you use it the weaker it gets. In my case, about a week into my second set of soles I was measuring a 9:12 roof when with zero warning the soles of my shoes went “RI-I-I-P” and just peeled right off my boots! I slid six fucking feet—to this day the worst close call I’ve had—and was lucky not to go over the fucking drip edge. I returned those (used, beat-up) boots with extreme prejudice, and left an absolutely *livid* review. I’m not even the only person I know with this kind of story about Cougar Paws.
Anyway, my message is this: if it’s important and it has a designed service life of more than about six months, don’t use Velcro. Even the most heavy-duty stuff will turn
to shit on you at the worst moment. Hell, the floor mats on my Miata are held down by Dual Lock, and while it works better than the 25-year-old tiny plastic spikes that used to be under there, when I recently tried to remove the floor mats for cleaning it started to just peel away. That stuff has its place, but it’s not in anything important or factory-built.
So there are different, many many different kinds of high strength hook and loop. Most of what holds overhead compartments on airplanes is hook and loop. BUT there are so many different types that sometimes it’s really hard to figure out which is the right one. Directionality is crucial on some of them. I wonder if your boot soles were affixed in the wrong direction, but I do know that most of the high strength hook and loop fasteners have very very specific life expectancy-like 2 or 3. See the Porsche example…
Agreed. My Miata uses almost entirely two-piece plastic fasteners to hold its bits in place, and they’re a hell of a lot nicer to deal with than stupid Christmas trees. They come off easier, and don’t ruin themselves in the process. They’re no easier to drop than a screw, bolt, or nut is, and we deal with those allllll the time.
THAT’S THE WHOLE DAMN PROBLEM WITH HEAT STAKING, DAVID! >:|
At a previous employer, I got a project to improve one of our heat stake machines and there wasno love on my end either. The darn machine was running on Windows XP (Windows 10 had been released) and had been modified multiple times and parts of it were for products we didn’t make anymore.
We also melted and formed the plastic differently. We just pressed a heater element into the pins until they had been melted a specific depth.
“I have a personal vendetta against heat staking, so goddammit it’s time to air my grievances.”
God it it Festivus already?
Bring on the feats of strength!
For your next laptop look at Framework. 😀
I had a laptop that had little hardened threaded inserts pressed into a thin plastic sheet, which was in turn glued to the aluminium clamshell. Within a year the plastic had disintegrated and my upper clamshell was only loosely tethered to the bottom half (very frustrating on a $1.5k gaming laptop), so I did what any sane person would do and drilled the clamshell where the inserts used to be, using a screwdriver to pry crucial wires out of harm’s way, then popped 8 rivets into the back of it. The bezel no longer fits, the screen is held to the shell with tape, and the ctrl key is a piece of painter’s tape over the membrane nipple with “ctrl” written on it with a pen, but I’ll be damned, the thing still works.
Awesome article, and I enjoyed watching the video. Any chance you can get a contact at Rivian to comment (even anonymously) about some of the thoughts from Munro?
THIS is why I followed you guys over from that German Lighting website. Actual interesting car content. I love this deep-diving car nerd content.
Expect a lot more like it.
David:
Undoubtedly, you eyes glossed over with all this new paint/metal/plastic. Unable to process this entirely “clean look”, I bet your mind wandered to a comfortable place of grime and rust. You’ve got an innate ability to foresee every nook and cranny that could possibly rot out.
Wait a minute, isn’t this thing mostly aluminum. Hopefully, there’ll be some type of corrosion with these Rivians so in 25 years time you can wallow in it. Can’t wait to read all about your take on that.
All it takes is one rust seized fastener deep inside somewhere to get the knuckles bleeding again.
If I ever FIND 2 motherfuckers…
1. The COCKMUCHER who decided to put a PHILLIPS SCREW INTO A BRAKE DISC TO KEEP ME FROM BANGING A 10LB SLEDGE TO KNOCK THE BASTARD OFF!!
2. The GEESE FUCKING, GOAT RAPIST.. who goes into WALMART and anywhere else that Hot Wheels exist.. and buys them all! SO when in go in there on my 8th birthday (2 days ago).. I CANT FIND A GOD DAMN THING!!!! THEN I GO ONTO EBAY.. AND FIND THE MOTHERFUCKING GOAT RAPIST SELLING THE FUCKING HOT WHEELS FOR 4BUX PER.. WITH 19.50 FOR SHIPPING.. FROM SHABOYGEN!!!!!
Man you are way ahead of where I was a 8. Don’t think I knew or understood enough of those colorful ways to describe folks I dislike, so kudos on that.
Wondering who pays for these studies.
David can clarify his experience – but basically all automakers everywhere.
They can buy a report of the teardown and they can often “rent” parts that have been torn out of cars. This saves them the cost of having to tear the car down themselves – especially if they’re just after one part for benchmarking.
So does Munro buy the cars, or do the automakers hand them over?
A story just about the business itself and how it works sounds like a good idea to me.
I’m fairly sure automakers will give Munro a car to study in certain cases, though often times Munro will buy the cars on their own. My 2017 story (linked in the article above) gets into some of Munro’s inner workings.
Well, were i work, they rented the car to tear it down. And then rebuilt it…
For their own informational purposes they will. This will actually usually come from a companies supply chain team as they may want to gain some leverage with their current suppliers on component pricing or manufacturing strategies. It gets pretty ruthless.
Plus, buying things from your competitor isn’t always easy. Companies sometimes don’t want their competitor to easily benchmark their parts.
Ford: I’d like one Dodge Dart please!
Dodge: LOL, no.
In the U.S. the OEMs do not own dealerships. I’m given to understand* it is common practice to just buy a vehicle from a dealership for teardown because (for the dealer) a sale is a sale.
*FD: I work at an OEM. The teardown group was between us and the coffee machine in the BeforeTimes. We frequently got to see what they were working on as we ambled by.
Companies pay Munro for the reports they produce off of these vehicles. It may be Ford, Chevy or anyone could be wanting to see how the Rivian is put together but do not want to dedicate staffing to it.
Yep, Munro is a consulting firm that employs genuine automotive manufacturing experts. Companies hire them to learn about how to optimize designs.
Depends on the manufacturing and depends on the use case. When we were doing benchmarking, if we needed to get NVH or Ride and Handling where we needed the vehicle to be whole for testing we ended up having to buy them ourselves, usually through a standard dealer.
If we were either looking for a cost comp, or a supplier or a manufacturing process we would pay for a report or visit from Munro, (or their competitors, etc.)
A lot of the times for the projects with the budgets we would use the vehicle for whatever benchmarking was needed while it was put together then do a teardown ourselves. Then try to put it back together to check for DFM/DFS.
Every time I’ve had neodymium magnets in a car in the summer they loose their power. Won’t these magnets they were so impressed with lose their pull in the first blazing hot summer day they run into?
Above 80C, neodymium magnets start to permanently lose their magnetism.
It gets pretty toasty here in TX but we haven’t broken 80C yet. I used 2 pairs of those neodymium magnets to hold my front license plate bracket on so I wouldn’t have to drill the bumper. So far they’re still holding tight.
I would hope not as 80C is 176F.
I am guessing by the placement that it likely does not reach that temperature. Car interiors can creep up to 172F, 78C, in very rare circumstances and usually max around 140ish. I bet inside of that frunk its significantly cooler in there.
Seems I’ve got my Christmas gifts sorted, sauna thermometers with neodymium magnet mounts it is.
Very cool. I wonder if Rivian people will see this and actually take in and use some of the recommendations.
Lots of smart people at Rivian, I would expect they would pay close attention to this kind of feedback, even if for a lot of it they will have their own answers