The Future of the Outdoors
Coming Eventually: Electric RVs
Image Caption: Photo Credit: Stella Vita
It’s a safe bet that at some point in the future, RVs will go all-electric. And the good news is, the change has already started. Many of you already have your foot on the electric RVing path without even realizing it. Solar panels, induction cooktops, and advanced house-battery systems are just a few examples of how the electric RV of tomorrow is already taking shape today.
While everyone else has been thinking about the holidays and New Year’s resolutions, I’ve been chatting up RV industry insiders about what the future holds for us all. All the manufacturers I spoke with were already spending R&D money here—nobody wants to be left behind on this. But instead of focusing on where we may or may not be in 10 years, let’s start by looking at where electric technology is headed right now.
Photo Credit: Thor
Today’s Path to an All-Electric RV Future
It helps to think about RV electrification in two separate areas. There’s chassis electrification (which is what most of us probably think of first), and then there’s the electrification of the “house.” While all-electric automotive chassis tend to get all the press, the electrification of the RV’s house is what gets me more excited because we can start living this future today. Expect to see these five changes in RV-house electrification become the new normal very soon.
1. RV Generators as We Know Them will be a Thing of the Past.
By now, we’ve all heard that gasoline generators will no longer be sold in California after 2028. While there be will be ways folks will get around this, California is too big a market for the RV industry to ignore. We can expect an acceleration of generator alternatives in the coming years.
2. Electric Heating Systems will Become More Common.
HVAC is the largest user of energy in RVs today. As we transition to an all-electric format, we can expect to see more heat pumps used for heating RVs without using fossil fuels.
Photo Credit: Thor
3. Improved Insulation will be a Priority.
Energy not wasted is just as good as energy generated. Expect to see RV manufacturers pay even more attention to insulation technology going forward. Energy saved with insulation could be used to get you 10 miles farther down the road. But even in a non-electric RV, better insulation pays dividends today.
4. Aerodynamics will be More Important than Ever.
Expect electric RVs to pay more attention to aerodynamics so that they don’t require as much energy to move down the road. Our RVs may not ever look exactly like the Stella Vita (a Dutch, airfoil-shaped, solar-powered RV), but aerodynamic improvements will save gas today and electricity tomorrow.
5. “Lightweighting” will Become a Thing.
RV manufacturers already pay close attention to vehicle weight. Adding more battery capacity, which tends to get quite heavy, will intensify the desire to remove weight in other areas in order to maximize range. Expect more lightweight materials to find their way into your next RV—and until you get an electric RV, it’ll save you gas in the meantime.
Photo Credit: Dethleffs
Chassis Electrification
Motorhomes—Class B’s and C’s will be First
When thinking about electric motorhomes, it’s easy to imagine the chassis because you can see these vehicles being electrified today. Across the Class B and C motorhome landscape, most vehicle manufacturers have announced plans for electric versions of popular motorhome chassis to be available in the next few years. (Class A owners … you may have to wait a bit longer.)
Don’t expect RV manufacturers to jump into electric-vehicle manufacturing. Most industry insiders I spoke with expect that the future of motorhomes will continue as it has, with RV manufacturers purchasing their chassis and maintaining the good relationships they’ve built with chassis suppliers. Initial electric RVs will likely have separate house and traction battery banks. This could mean that early adopters have two charging ports or interim solutions to charge both battery banks simultaneously. But as time passes, expect to see chassis manufacturers open up their power supply—in very carefully controlled ways—to upfitters.
But since motorhomes are a small slice of the pie for automotive giants like Ford and Mercedes-Benz, we should expect innovations (particularly in range) to be solved for passenger vehicles first. After that, we’ll see innovations trickle down to motorhomes and commercial vehicles.
Photo Credit: Thor
Towables
Propulsion Technology and “Weightless” Trailers
In the towable world, chassis electrification is especially exciting, and that has to do with propulsion technology. Let’s say you have an all-electric pickup and you’re towing a trailer. Your tow vehicle’s driving range drops dramatically thanks to the weight of your trailer. To remedy this, RV manufacturers are working on technology to create essentially a “weightless” towable. The trailer gets a battery and a drive motor, so it provides an assist to the e-vehicle that’s pulling it.
They’ve been working on this in Europe for a while now, and in 2021, German manufacturer Dethleffs completed their E.HOME Alps challenge. They outfitted a travel trailer with an electric drive system and towed it (using just an electric sedan) more than 230 miles, across the Alps, without stopping to charge.
The technology that allows towable propulsion is a significant achievement. It will even enable other features like stability control and slow-speed maneuvering in camp. But the biggest obstacle between a self-propelled travel trailer and your driveway isn’t technical. It’s regulatory. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration will need to learn about and decide how to regulate this future class of self-propelled, driverless chassis. Cost will also be factor, as self-propelled hardware (batteries, drive motors) on a trailer essentially creates a new EV. Expect to pay a premium for a self-propelled trailer.
The Elephant on the Road
Obstacle #1: Range
Range is typically the primary concern with electric vehicles, and I won’t be telling you anything new if I say it will get better over time. It already has gotten better and will continue to do so thanks to the large amounts of R&D from the major auto manufacturers. But beyond that, I’d suggest that the way we think about range needs to change in two important ways.
First, it’s important that we start thinking about what we really do with our RVs, instead of the absolute farthest we ever drove, that one time, on a tank of gas. Kunal Mehta, Head of Strategy, Business Development, and Marketing for Winnebago, explained it to me like this: “There’s a lot of data that suggests most people using their RVs stay within 2–3 hours of their house. So while range anxiety is very real in that the technology does need to get to 200–300 miles before many people get comfortable, there are plenty of use cases for an electric RV under that.”
Put another way, the question becomes, if your RV experience is heading downtown to tailgate or to the lake 90 minutes away, how important is a 400-mile range really?
We also need to expand our definition of range to something beyond fuel in a tank and miles driven. In an electric RV, it’s highly likely that all the systems will be connected. This means that you may have 300 miles of range, or 200 miles of range and 10 hours of air conditioning, or 150 miles of range, with air conditioning and some hot showers. If everything is electric, including the drive, we need to think of it all as one thing.
Photo Credit: Thor
Obstacle #2: Charging Logistics
Finding charging stations is another source of anxiety when contemplating electric RVs. But this may be one of those times where the phrase “I’m from the government. I’m here to help,” is actually true. Recent US infrastructure legislation will make billions of dollars of funding available to states for building out a national electric vehicle charging network.
But think about it: Have you ever seen an EV charging station that could accommodate a fifth-wheel? Likely not. Here, the RV industry is working together through RVIA to ensure that fast charging for large-format vehicles is part of the future.
Public charging stations were only part of the picture, according to multiple industry experts I spoke with. There are two other charging options that will play a role in your RV’s future. The first is charging at home, which is where most current passenger EVs charge. Initially, this will be slower charging from your home’s electrical grid. But the prospect of having a large battery bank sitting in your driveway brings up some interesting scenarios for getting even more value out of your RV. It’s not a big stretch to imagine using your RV’s battery bank as a backup home generator. Current, non-RV electric vehicles already offer a version of this future. For instance, the Ford F-150 Lightning, with its Intelligent Backup Power option, can provide generator power to your home for up to three days through its wall charger.
Taking that even further, one can imagine being able to use the RV as part of a grid-tied home solar system for storing off-peak power to sell back to the grid at peak times. The possibilities for home energy storage are intriguing.
Charging in camp is the third option on the horizon. Campground power pedestals are a charging network that’s already in place. In the near term, those early adopters with electric RVs may be able to use those for slow charging at their destination. But the electric grid at your mom-and-pop campground probably isn’t built for simultaneous charging of a campground full of electric vehicles. Expect some growing pains here as we all work our way into the electric RV era.
So, are electric RVs coming? Yes. Will motorhomes and towables have a place in the electric future? Yes. Are they here right now? Sort of. Will they get better over time? Absolutely. Technology tends to improve as the years pass. Only time will tell if this prediction of the future of RVs is any more on-target than that Heli-Home flying camper from the 1970s, but I’m betting it is. (Although, I would TOTALLY have a Heli-Home if one were available today.)
See It Today!
Image Courtesy of Airstream
Thor’s Airstream eStream
The Europeans aren’t the only ones creating self-propelled towables. Thor created the eStream as a towable concept, and its standout feature is the battery-powered electric drivetrain it rides on. When hooked to any vehicle, this drivetrain promises to improve mileage and stability due to the two independent electric motors.
But what really generates some excitement is that those same two motors can be used to maneuver the eStream around a campground, independently of its tow vehicle. I got to use a precursor system to this once to drive a trailer around in Europe, and I can tell you, this is the most fun you’ll ever have backing up a trailer.
When you look at the eStream, one of the first things you notice is its clean roofline. The air conditioner has been moved off to reduce wind resistance, and the roof is home to a large array of solar panels. Both of those are features that could easily be ported to RVs right now.
Winnebago’s e-RV Concept
Winnebago started work on its e-RV three years ago. There were no electric RV chassis then, so their Advanced Technology Group (ATG) took an off-the-lot Ford Transit, removed the engine, and replaced it with an 86 kW-h electric powertrain. The result is a fully functional, street-legal, Class B motorhome.
The e-RV uses a single battery pack for both the traction and the house systems. This means that “filling up” at a public charging station is also charging its house batteries … and vice versa. Plugging in at a campground is also topping off its fuel tank. The e-RV sports a 350-volt air conditioner and heat pump, and a large inverter to power 120-volt loads. It even has LED “mood” lights, which change color as the vehicle is charging so you can know the state of charge at a glance.
Building a concept vehicle is one thing, taking it out on the road is another—and that’s what their team did. They took the e-RV on a 1,300-mile road trip from Washington, D.C., to Minnesota, with the goal of learning as much as they could about traveling and living in an all-electric RV.
