All Electric Motorhome

R P

R P

Well-Known Member
Is there such a thing, or is one in the works? I have always wanted to do some traveling in a motorhome, but have been discouraged by the high cost of fuel. It's cheaper to travel by car and stay in hotels/motels. And with longer distances, cheaper to fly and rent a car.

And where I live, BC, Canada, gas is extra expensive, so makes it even more uneconomical. Yet there are many beautiful places up north to visit that have a lack of charging stations, but are well serviced with campgrounds/RV parks with 30 amp RV outlets, and the odd 14-50. So I was thinking, could travel to a nice location, charge up there, and then travel on to the next nice location.

I realize a motorhome would need a much larger battery than a car, but don't necessarily need the largest motorhome either. Maybe this is a market that is still waiting to be exploited by the EV manufacturers. And I know it would be expensive (even fuel ones are). So the cost factor could still ruin this equation. I think if they started off with a small camper type van, it might catch on. Rentals might be a feasible way to go as well.
 
Yes there are but details are sketchy, availability limited and range starved. And they are not inexpensive. The good news however is that manufacturers are thinking about it and in a few years you may have more choices but for now, you are better off with a regular ICE RV, unless you are willing to live with limitations. But if you still want to to look at what is out there and as you are in North America, you may want to start with Winnebago

https://winnebagoind.com/products/specialty-vehicles/2019/all-electric/overview

It gives about 100 miles per charge, and I am sure it is hideously expensive. With that short range, and long charging times (7-8 hours), you are limited on where you can go. I am not sure this is going to be very practical as you have to have charging stations within a hundred miles. In fact this van is targeted towards the commercial user as shown in their brochure

The vehicles are highly customizable and configurable for ranges including mobile blood banks, asthma and lung screening units, bookmobiles, preschools, and more. Unlike traditional RVs, these are specifically engineered to accept heavy and sensitive equipment mounted on board.

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http://rvlife.com/all-electric-motorhome/
This is a German company but details on Iridum EV are sketchy. Not sure that it will be available in North America anytime soon. This is designed as a RV, unlike the Winnebago which is multi-use
Iridium-motor-home.png



Nissan has a concept based on e-NV200 van for a small size camper but again available only in Europe. Again the platform is multi-use.

https://electrek.co/2018/07/25/nissan-all-electric-camper-e-nv200-van/

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Well, at least some are thinking about it. I guess will have to wait and see.
 
interestedinEV said:
Here is an article on the Nissan Camper Van. Again limited range of about 125 miles but hopefully they can increase to about 200. Check out the pictures, seems very nice and might be exactly what you are looking for it the range was little better. Unfortunately, no plans to bring it to the US. The Pop-out top provides a more open feeling.

https://www.curbed.com/2018/7/24/17608836/camper-van-for-sale-electric-nissan-pop-top

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I recall seeing that but as you said only in Europe (Spain I think)
 
interestedinEV said:
Here is an article on the Nissan Camper Van. Again limited range of about 125 miles but hopefully they can increase to about 200. Check out the pictures, seems very nice and might be exactly what you are looking for it the range was little better. Unfortunately, no plans to bring it to the US. The Pop-out top provides a more open feeling.

https://www.curbed.com/2018/7/24/17608836/camper-van-for-sale-electric-nissan-pop-top

426226988_Camper.jpg


426226990_Camper.jpg
Click to expand...

That's a nice tiny camper. The pop top is definitely a great feature.
 
There may not be any North American RVs with EV powertrains, but a number of manufacturers now have models that eliminate the generator, in favor of larger EV-type battery packs and solar recharging. So at least you could avoid using gas while at your campsite. I hope that in the near future they will add EVSE power inlets as well so the "house" battery could also be recharged at public chargers or at home, rather than only the alternator and onboard solar. I don't know how difficult adding that would be for a consumer, presently. Of course, larger house batteries is only a consideration if you are camping off the grid.

One mainstream example is the Winnebago Travato Pure3: https://winnebagoind.com/products/class-b/2019/travato/overview

Volta Power Systems lists other brands they are supplying their system to: https://voltapowersystems.com/get-volta/#brands
 
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