The best new thing in the world today comes from electric vehicle maker Rivian, which has added a feature to keep pets safe and comfortable when left for a short time in its R1T pickup and R1S SUV.
The Pet Comfort setting allows owners to keep dogs or cats safe and cool when left in a vehicle on a hot day.
Temperatures can reach levels fatal to pets in a few minutes on a hot day. The new setting prevents that, allowing the owner to set a temperature between 68 degrees F and 74 degrees F, squarely in furry friends’ comfort zone. The feature will also warm the cabin in cold weather.
When Pet Comfort is engaged, the Rivian’s dashboard touch screen lights up with a cartoon depicting the brand’s Gear Guardian mascot — a hairy, headband-wearing little dude — holding a compact fan, blades spinning. “My pet is safe and comfy,” read letters across the 15.6-inch control screen, while big numerals display the interior temperature.
Rivian says the feature was one of owners’ top requests. Owners who already had their vehicles got it in an over-the-air update.
Tesla offers a similar feature, setting, called Dog — you whimsical devil, Elon. The automaker suggests it can also be useful when leaving groceries in the car on a hot day.
Both automakers make it clear the system is for pets. Children should never be left in a vehicle unattended.
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Why your car can’t do this
EVs are uniquely suited to features like Pet Comfort. Unlike internal combustion vehicles, they don’t generate exhaust fumes or heat when left with the HVAC system running.
Cooling a vehicle uses less electricity from the battery than heating on a cold day, but EVs can maintain safe interior temperatures for a long time even in frigid weather, or if stranded in a blizzard, says Craig Van Batenberg, who trains EV technicians and wrote about heating EV passenger compartments for SAE International, the global engineering association.
Heat pumps, increasingly common in EVs, “use about 2 kilowatts an hour” on a cold day in winter, Van Batenberg said. “With a 60 kWh battery, I could heat the interior for about 30 hours.” A 60 kWh battery is small by the standards of current EVs.
Built-in safeguards
Rivian’s system won’t let you engage Pet Comfort if the vehicle’s battery has less than 50 miles range. The vehicle also has to be in park.
The driver activates the feature by pressing a paw icon on the climate control screen. Once Pet Comfort is on, it’ll keep running till the battery is depleted or the driver turns it off by pressing the paw icon again. Pet Comfort also switches off when defrost, defog or the vehicle’s heated seats are turned on, or it shifts out of park, all evidence the driver has returned.
Owners can check cabin status on Rivian’s phone app, which will also send an automatic notification if the temperature rises or vehicle range gets critically low.
Opening any door disables the system momentarily, but it resumes when all doors are closed and the driver’s seat is vacant.
Contact Mark Phelan: 313-222-6731 or mmphelan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark_phelan. Read more on autos and sign up for our autos newsletter. Become a subscriber.