Heather Miller
When Sarah and Matthew Buecher first saw the Rivian R1T electric truck in a YouTube video, they felt an instant connection. They are a “truck family,” and Rivian’s blend of design, sustainability, and innovation was intriguing.
But it was more than just the truck—there was a connection with home as well. When Rivian announced it would repurpose a dormant Mitsubishi-Chrysler factory in Normal, Illinois into a major manufacturing hub, they were immediately drawn to the idea of owning one.
“My wife and I are both from Illinois, and her parents actually went to school and met in Bloomington-Normal,” says Matthew Buecher, co-founder, Thunderbolt Adventure Supply. “I even toured that factory in college for materials and processes classes. Seeing it come back to life for something sustainable and to invigorate the area was huge for us.”
In 2018, they put in one of the earliest pre-orders for a Rivian R1T. It checked many boxes for their love of the outdoors and camping. “The camp kitchen was one of the things we were most excited about because it would be a fully integrated kitchen that pulled out from the truck’s gear tunnel. But it was eventually canceled during production,” Buecher says.
Cooking up a solution
With his long career in industrial and furniture design, Buecher set out to create a dream camp kitchen himself. One of the most important design goals was to make it easy to install and quickly remove when not in use. What started out as a few foam mockups turned into Thunderbolt Adventure Supply, which offers sophisticated camp kitchens tailor-made for the Rivian community.
The first Thunderbolt Adventure Supply camp kitchen was crafted from plywood. The kitchen was a hit at local Rivian Club events where they debuted it serving hot chocolate. But as the business grew, it was time to evolve the design.
Today, Thunderbolt Adventure Supply’s Overland Kitchen offers a fully modular system that transforms Rivian’s gear tunnel into a high-functioning outdoor kitchen. With features like an induction cooktop, an optional faucet and sink system, a cutting board area, and portable storage bags for dishes and kitchenware, it’s a full-service setup designed for outdoor adventures. It’s all powered directly by the Rivian battery.
“It just takes seconds to pull it out of the truck and flip it open, and you can have boiling water in less than a minute,” Buecher says. “The sink is super handy because you have a kitchen with flowing water from a Dometic water tank. It’s one of the best features in terms of campsite cleanup and not doing dishes down in the mud at a faucet.”
Designing the dream camp kitchen
For its evolution and new design goals, Buecher leaned into learning more features in Autodesk Fusion. “With the move from plywood to aluminum, I had to really understand how to use Fusion manufacturing tools, especially for sheet metal,” he says.
Fusion’s parametric modeling capabilities were key. “Being able to go back in the timeline, tweak dimensions, and see everything update automatically was mind-blowing,” he says. “It sped up development, and I didn’t have to rebuild models from scratch.”
The sheet metal tools within Fusion also made fabrication easier and more accurate. “Fusion lets me model with complete confidence,” he says. “With sheet metal, hole placement is everything. When the parts showed up, everything lined up perfectly. That’s huge when you’re talking about laser-cut aluminum, which is expensive to replace.”
Drawer slides and bolt patterns also easily came together thanks to the McMaster-Carr library available directly in Fusion.
“Pulling in exact models of screws, bearings, and slides saves so much time,” Buecher says. “Just drop them in, and you know it’s going to fit.”
“Parametric modeling in Fusion is mind-blowing. I tend to start with some quick idea sketching, and then I can do all of the fine tuning in the software. It’s made my life so much faster and easier.”
—Matthew Buecher, Co-Founder, Thunderbolt Adventure Supply
Taking a sustainability-first mindset
Of course, the sustainability of the Rivian itself is inherent as an electric vehicle. For Thunderbolt Adventure Supply, they wanted the materials and processes behind their camp kitchens to also be as sustainable as possible. Rather than relying on plastics and global supply chains, they made deliberate choices to source natural materials like bamboo for the countertops and waxed canvas for the storage bags—all while manufacturing as locally as possible.
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“My wife has an environmental science background, and I’ve spent years making products overseas and feeling guilty about it with everything packed in plastic and Styrofoam and shipped all over the world,” Buecher says. “We wanted to do it differently by using natural materials, avoiding plastic where we can, and cutting out long shipping routes. We also reuse as much packaging and shipping materials as possible.”
By manufacturing the core components in California and partnering with regional suppliers along the West Coast, they’ve dramatically reduced the carbon footprint typically associated with production.
Looking to the future
Thunderbolt Adventure Supply is currently developing its newest version, optimizing material usage and manufacturing efficiency. By shortening metal parts to better fit standard aluminum sheet sizes, they are streamlining production even further.
For Buecher, the Thunderbolt Adventure Supply journey is more than just business success.
“The best part is seeing something you designed become real,” he says. “To build something that makes people’s adventures better is a pretty amazing feeling.”