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Ask HN: Electric RV Options?
8 points by Mockapapella on June 13, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 9 comments
This won't be taking place for quite some time (at least a year out, maybe more), but I would like to travel the US by RV for 6-12 months. Given the rising gas prices, I was wondering whether there are any options for electric RVs that I can buy. I've seen a couple[1] of options that have been announced, but they seem to suffer from the same issue that many other EV options have in being years out from the announcement and/or concepts.

I've looked into getting an electric vehicle (like a Rivian or F-150 lightning) and towing behind a camper trailer, which isn't a bad option per-se, but I'm just not sure that's the best option. It seems to me that the surface area on an RV is a wonderful opportunity for solar panels which is something that most EVs don't really have.

Any and all thoughts would be appreciated.

1. https://www.insidehook.com/daily_brief/vehicles/electric-rvs-concepts-real



Towing a small trailer behind an R1T or F-150 Lightning is likely your best option, especially if you kept the weight and size down. DC Fast charging can be pretty annoying while towing since most locations you have to disconnect the trailer. If you did most of your charging at RV parks overnight and didn't cover much distance during each day it wouldn't be too bad.

If you're willing to do some retrofitting you could get something like a Ford E-Transit and build a living space in the back, but most EV vans have pretty small range as they are designed for daily use within a city where you charge every night, not long distance travel.


I hope you're planning to stay put fairly often if you want to use solar panels a lot. A bus takes ~2kW/mi [1] so if you go 60 mph you're burning 120kW/h so you're not going to replenish that at all while enroute.

What's your price range? The EV Motorhomes are ~200k [2] while converted sprinters are ~100k [3]. I suspect it may pay for itself if you learned how to convert a used gas sprinter/etc to electric.

[1]: https://www.proterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/SPEC_35_... [2]: https://www.thormotorcoach.com/build-price/tiburon [3]: https://www.thormotorcoach.com/build-price/scope


By “electric RV”, I take it you mean electric propulsion. I’d echo what others are saying about looking at the F-150 and either a tow trailer or a truck camper that sits in the truck bed.

Beyond that, there is a big opportunity to fully electrify campers, trailers, RVs, etc which currently rely on a variety of non-electric methods to propel, heat, cool, refrigerate, cook, level and provide electricity. Consider that many RVs have gasoline tanks aboard to fuel a ICE motor integrated into a generator to produce electricity (12v/120v). The space-savings and pollution-reduction of an all electric RV would be significant. For users/owners, the reduced complexity would free up recreational time currently spent maintaining and repairing the variety of systems.


As for solar panels- 17% (typical solar panel efficiency) x 1000 W/m2 (typical sun effect)= 170 W/m2. To charge a 135 kW/h Rivian with 1 sqm panel you'll need 794 hours of light (it's not accurate, but gives a good estimate), so you'll need a lot of those to be effective.


Not to shill for rivian, or ford, but I'd reckon a towed rv is pretty much the only option at the moment. An RV is already sort of a side effect of automotive culture, so it'll likely take a while for any players to propagate in the industry


I don't know of any electric RVs, but I'm curious about seeing what prices you are working with in your calculation. 6-12 months is an awfully short time to reach even break-even with an EV, let alone any savings.


Is it feasible to travel the country in an EV? The western states are a lot more desolate than the midwest and east. Being stranded somewhere would be very stressful.


Don’t know of any on the market yet - the closest thing is the towed fifth wheel as mentioned.


I have a Tesla Model Y and tow a small caravan with it. It works fine.




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