4 ms·

>going with a RV route is looking more like the best possible option for the future, cause you can just pick up and leave when bad weather comes what's the pla

by JTbane 5y ago

>going with a RV route is looking more like the best possible option for the future, cause you can just pick up and leave when bad weather comes what's the plan when fuel shortages start happening and your RV can't be kept rolling?

FractalHQ 5y ago
I wonder what the EV RV industry is looking like..
- samjett 5y ago
  Near nonexistent. Battery size requirements and battery charging rates make EV RVS either really expensive and really impractical for distance travel. You would need to put a huge battery (say, 300 KwH, which would cost $60,000 just for the battery), to get a reasonable range of 200-300 miles between charges, depending upon the efficiency of your RV. And then, even at a level 3 DCFC Charging station (providing 50 KW) you're looking at 6 hrs of charging to fully charge the battery.
  - eddanger 5y ago
    In this post-apocalyptic scenario I think the range would be secondary to using the battery for day-to-day living. The RV could have solar and keep the battery topped off all the time.
  - Kirby64 5y ago
    You know how much new RVs cost right? 200-400k is not unusual for a 'big' RV. Also, with a bigger battery comes higher limits on how fast you can charge. If you have a 300kWh battery you should be able to charge it at 300kW all day long. That said, it doesn't really exist since there is no market for it at the moment. RV sales aren't exactly high, so the niche for EV RVs is even smaller. Plus there's no real infrastructure out for it now. I suspect once EV Semis become more mainstream we'll see that trickle down to RV users. They can charge at the same place a semi would charge at.
  - ActorNightly 5y ago
    The thing about RVs is that generally, you won't have to drive them often. Average solar panel produces about 15 watts per square foot, so over a course of a month with about 7 hours of sun a day, that is 3 kwh/square foot. So 50 square feet of panels, which is the total area of a large bed, will get you half the range over a month. Also, there will undoubtably be hybrid options where you can have a multi fuel generator charging your batteries.
- jpindar 5y ago
  The Ford F150 Lightning has a number of features made for pulling a trailer. https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/#towing_hauling https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/#towing...
  - willcipriano 5y ago
    That and a truck camper[0] is probably the way I would go. [0]https://www.lancecamper.com/truck-campers/ https://www.lancecamper.com/truck-campers/
asdff 5y ago
The U.S. would sooner stop fuel exports than let that happen. We produce more than we use.
- mywittyname 5y ago
  The country is already at the point where a single natural disaster can cause regional short-term fuel shortages and price spikes because refineries are located in geographies susceptible to natural disasters. It is not unreasonable to work under the assumption that temporary petrol shortages become a annual or semi-annual event in a future where the gulf coast is hammered with ever more frequent and powerful hurricanes.
  - JohnWhigham 5y ago
    Harvey was parked over Houston for several days, and I don't really remember fuel prices being affected that much. The bigger thing to worry about is something like the pipeline hack (which will assuredly happen again).
    - bradstewart 5y ago
      Prices didn't move all that much, but you literally couldn't get gas in Austin for a week or so, and gas stations would frequently run out for another few weeks after that. This is an area where small, distributed solar panel arrays and batteries (like on your house) can be much more robust. It's a lot harder to destroy thousands of small solar power systems than it is to take out a pipeline feeding an entire city.
ActorNightly 5y ago
Then you basically are in the same situation functionally as having a house, no different from other people. Maybe even better considering that you spent less money. But realistically, hybrid powertrains, or even simple multi-fuel generator charging will make this a non issue.
- klyrs 5y ago
  > Then you basically are in the same situation functionally as having a house... Provided you're lucky enough to run out of gas in a location that your RV won't be a nuisance. And if you're in hurricane territory, an RV is not functionally equivalent to a house.

by JTbane 5y ago

FractalHQ 5y ago

I wonder what the EV RV industry is looking like..

samjett 5y ago
Near nonexistent. Battery size requirements and battery charging rates make EV RVS either really expensive and really impractical for distance travel. You would need to put a huge battery (say, 300 KwH, which would cost $60,000 just for the battery), to get a reasonable range of 200-300 miles between charges, depending upon the efficiency of your RV. And then, even at a level 3 DCFC Charging station (providing 50 KW) you're looking at 6 hrs of charging to fully charge the battery.
- eddanger 5y ago
  In this post-apocalyptic scenario I think the range would be secondary to using the battery for day-to-day living. The RV could have solar and keep the battery topped off all the time.
- Kirby64 5y ago
  You know how much new RVs cost right? 200-400k is not unusual for a 'big' RV. Also, with a bigger battery comes higher limits on how fast you can charge. If you have a 300kWh battery you should be able to charge it at 300kW all day long. That said, it doesn't really exist since there is no market for it at the moment. RV sales aren't exactly high, so the niche for EV RVs is even smaller. Plus there's no real infrastructure out for it now. I suspect once EV Semis become more mainstream we'll see that trickle down to RV users. They can charge at the same place a semi would charge at.
- ActorNightly 5y ago
  The thing about RVs is that generally, you won't have to drive them often. Average solar panel produces about 15 watts per square foot, so over a course of a month with about 7 hours of sun a day, that is 3 kwh/square foot. So 50 square feet of panels, which is the total area of a large bed, will get you half the range over a month. Also, there will undoubtably be hybrid options where you can have a multi fuel generator charging your batteries.
jpindar 5y ago
The Ford F150 Lightning has a number of features made for pulling a trailer. https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/#towing_hauling https://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/f150-lightning/2022/#towing...
- willcipriano 5y ago
  That and a truck camper[0] is probably the way I would go. [0]https://www.lancecamper.com/truck-campers/ https://www.lancecamper.com/truck-campers/

asdff 5y ago

The U.S. would sooner stop fuel exports than let that happen. We produce more than we use.

mywittyname 5y ago
The country is already at the point where a single natural disaster can cause regional short-term fuel shortages and price spikes because refineries are located in geographies susceptible to natural disasters. It is not unreasonable to work under the assumption that temporary petrol shortages become a annual or semi-annual event in a future where the gulf coast is hammered with ever more frequent and powerful hurricanes.
- JohnWhigham 5y ago
  Harvey was parked over Houston for several days, and I don't really remember fuel prices being affected that much. The bigger thing to worry about is something like the pipeline hack (which will assuredly happen again).
  - bradstewart 5y ago
    Prices didn't move all that much, but you literally couldn't get gas in Austin for a week or so, and gas stations would frequently run out for another few weeks after that. This is an area where small, distributed solar panel arrays and batteries (like on your house) can be much more robust. It's a lot harder to destroy thousands of small solar power systems than it is to take out a pipeline feeding an entire city.

ActorNightly 5y ago

Then you basically are in the same situation functionally as having a house, no different from other people. Maybe even better considering that you spent less money. But realistically, hybrid powertrains, or even simple multi-fuel generator charging will make this a non issue.

klyrs 5y ago
> Then you basically are in the same situation functionally as having a house... Provided you're lucky enough to run out of gas in a location that your RV won't be a nuisance. And if you're in hurricane territory, an RV is not functionally equivalent to a house.