If you road trip, you eat. If you hunt, you drink. If you’re tailgating, you do both. No matter if you’re in a truck or SUV, having easy and convenient access to food and cold beverages is convenient. They help sustain road goers and off roaders alike. But, if you’re like us, you hate soggy or wet food, or not-cold-enough beverages when using a cooler with ice. Plus, that setup doesn’t last very long, making multi-day or week-long adventures tricky. My husband, Andy Lilienthal, and I put one of the latest 12V plug-in vehicle fridge/freezers to the test: a 25-liter Travoca Rigel Dual Zone eCooler. Will this newcomer survive our 500+ mile-long rigorous road rally test through Canada’s remote dirt and mud-filled tracks and more? Read on for the good, the bad, and our overall impressions.
Who is Travoca?
We first met Travoca at the 2025 Overland Expo West show. Their booth showcased their new wares: an edgy-designed and functional eCooler fridge/freezers, power stations, solar panels, and titanium drinkware. Their products looked modern, polished, and cohesive. But how would they perform? We were interested in their Rigel 12-volt fridges as we’ve previously tested fridges from other manufacturers. We got their smallest 25-liter dual-zone (DZ) eCooler as a review sample so we can pack it easily into our fleet of compact SUVs and crossovers.
Travoca’s Rigel eCoolers are all dual zone units available in four sizes: 25L, 35L, 45L, and 60L.
Travoca Rigel Dual Zone eCooler Lowdown
Rigel eCoolers can be powered via 12-volt of 110V power sources. This includes a 12-volt outlet, like the one in your truck, or a power station, like the EcoFlow Delta Plus 3 unit we recently reviewed. To our knowledge, Travoca doesn’t offer a vehicle hardwire kit to install their Rigel eCoolers directly to your rig’s battery like other manufacturers do. Travoca, if you’re listening, that’d be a great product to offer. It can also be used at home via a 110V AC power cord, ideal for backyard BBQs or when you need extra chill space for food and drinks.
The company states its proprietary vacuum-insulated panels can help keep contents cold for approximately seven hours after the power is shut off (i.e. if you get to the hotel or base camp for an overnight stay and shut your vehicle off). They state their Rigel fridges can hold things colder 60% longer than more basic 12V fridges.
Note: Any fridge, if shut off for that long, may not keep your ice cream from melting if used as a freezer. But if you’re using it as a fridge, your contents may stay cold enough during that time to not spoil. If you’re like us, you’d hardwire it to the vehicle’s battery or bring a higher-powered power station with you to power it overnight that way, so you don’t take any chances. We travel remotely for weeks at a time a lot. No chances taken.
All Rigel eCoolers feature a dual-opening lid and two non-fixed metal handles located on either side of the unit. They’re oversized and easy to use when carrying the fridge. However, they’re difficult to use when securing the eCooler in place with ratchet straps if off-roading or rallying like we did with it for the 2026 Thunderbird Rally. That trip alone was 1,365 miles of adventuring goodness.
Travoca’s Rigel eCoolers come with a long power cord. It was long enough to reach our Subaru’s dash mounted 12V outlet from the vehicle’s rear cargo area. You can use the supplied 12V cords on either end of the cooler vs. many other types that only power it on one side. Great idea!
Rigel 25-Liter Dual Zone eCooler Specs
Our tester has 25 liters (or 6.6-gallons) of capacity and can be used as a single-zone fridge if you pull the removable divider out. Or a dual zone unit if you leave the divider in it. This fridge can be used as a freezer and fridge, or one or the other. If you use the large side as a fridge, it’ll hold 20 12 oz. cans. If you opt to make the smaller side a freezer, you can pack four pints of ice cream into it.
This eCooler is controlled via a simple digital push-button read-out on the top end of the unit or via a free Bluetooth app. It can be run from -4° F to 68° F—perfect for ice cream on hot days or cold beer after a day on the trail.
- Size (L x W x H): 25.8″ x 16.9″ x 14.7″ (656mm x 430mm x 374mm)
- Weight: 48.1lbs. (21.8kg)
- Low Temp Range: -4° F (-20° C)
- Speed to go from 79° F to 32° F (26° C to 0° C): 20 minutes
- # of Zones: 2
- dB: 48
- IP Rating: IPX5 (which is water-resistant and protected against low-pressure water jets from any direction, but this doesn’t include any dust ingress rating)
- Run time from a 1500 wH power station: 18 hours
Although the Travoca Rigel 25-Liter Dual Zone eCooler isn’t the cheapest on the market (regular price is $650), it is solidly made from premium materials and components. This includes high-quality mechanisms like an upgraded compressor with Toshiba technology and an edgy design with Bamboo panels mounted out front.
Our Impressions
Our Travoca Rigel 25L Dual Zone eCooler tester was quiet and efficient. It was a cinch to plug in and use on our international trip and beyond for the last few months. However, we wish it had fixed handles to more easily secure it properly.
The fridge kept beer, snacks, and lunch stuff cold and neatly compartmentalized. The Travoca Rigel 25L eCooler cooled down quickly each time and kept its temperature even, no matter how you had it set.
This fridge gains a good amount of space by removing the divider if you plan to use only one of the two modes: fridge or freezer. We tested it with the divider installed and removed. The shallow upper shelf over the compressor is good for small low-profile items. It’d be nice to have an optional basket for purchase for that area to keep items in place, though. Other manufacturers have removable baskets for each compartment, helping to keep items organized.
The easy-open lid is stout and can be opened from either side or removed all together. We we used the lid in one direction with our Crosstrek but another direction with our 4×4 SUVs. That’s a great feature for cleaning should something spill or simply airing it out after a trip.
The bamboo slats are a refreshing and modern effect. When we spoke to Travoca last year at Overland Expo West, they hoped to make the slats modular and quick release, adding accessories such as cutting boards, or to feature other material accents. We hope this happens. Hey, where’s the integrated bottle opener, Travoca?
Travoca’s Rigel 25-Liter Dual Zone eCooler App
The eCooler’s free app is easy to use and functional. You can monitor and change the unit’s temperatures from anywhere as it uses Bluetooth connectivity. We noticed when using it with my Samsung S24 Ultra and Andy’s Samsung S24+ smartphones, however, that the bottom-most buttons were covered up with both phone’s navigation bar if it was needed to be used.
If your smartphone isn’t nearby, the physical digital read-out on the eCooler itself is pretty simple to use. Note: It can be hard to read in direct sunlight, however. If you read the directions, the manual doesn’t do a great job explaining what Eco and Max modes are for.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for a fridge that’d hold more than a few days of easy foods/drinks, opt for a larger size from Travoca. The compressor takes up a lot of space in the 25L unit. Packing food ahead of time in the 25L is beneficial so you know how much you can stow for a trip before leaving. However, the Travoca Rigel 25-Liter Dual Zone eCooler is made from high-quality materials and performs like a chill champ. It gave us zero issues once we figured out the fine-tuning of Eco and Max modes and how to use the system. We’ve got full confidence in this unit.
Not only did the Travoca Rigel 25-Liter Dual Zone eCooler fit in our 4×4 SUVs easily, but it also stowed below our 2022 Subaru Crosstrek’s rear cargo cover from prying eyes—something most electric vehicle fridges can’t do. Its overall ease of use, consistent temperature-holding ability and sleek look has us smitten with it.
As the adage goes, “Buy once, cry once.” If you buy better quality, even if it’s from a new company, chances are good that you’ll be rewarded with years of cold and consistent quality to keep your food and drinks chilled. And, if you’re in the middle of nowhere on an off-roading adventure, touring on the tarmac on a cross-country excursion, or rallying like we did with it in Canada, it’ll fit make you wonder why you didn’t spring for a Travoca Rigel eCooler sooner.
