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Talking of making larger and large EV's, but I've thought for a while that electric RVs would be great. Though I imagine that the Tesla one would(will?) be 500k

Talking of making larger and large EV's, but I've thought for a while that electric RVs would be great. Though I imagine that the Tesla one would(will?) be 500k minimum. But you'd get a huge electric battery for boon-docking it, running AC, etc and you get a large surface for solar panels. You might even be able to have enough solar to be able drive for a day to a new local, and then park for a few days to recharge and then drive again. ;) I bet they'd sell pretty well and still be better environmentally than the RV's that get 5mpg.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago
RV parks are also great places to find level 2 chargers even for non-RV EVs. If you are driving up to Alaska, most of the trip they are basically your only option right now.
- Robotbeat 4y ago
  I went on a long road trip recently with my Model S and charged up at RV parks where we tent camped. It's $10 more than a non-electric site, but that charge's range is worth about $30 worth of gasoline, so it's an easy win and you can skip the time to supercharge.
  - solardev 4y ago
    RV parks are probably going to start metering electricity if this becomes more commonplace... I imagine charging an EV takes a lot more energy than charging an RV, no?
    - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
      They will charge by time (like by day as is common now) in most cases, since metering by usage often requires being regulated as a utility.
      - solardev 4y ago
        Are out those ev chargers regulated as utilities then?
        seanmcdirmid 4y ago
        Depends on the jurisdiction. In BC Canada at least, it has to be by time.
topkai22 4y ago
So I've run some rough numbers on this- solar power a 40 ft class A is 8.5 ft wide, so 340 Sq ft of surface area. It appears that 20 watts per Sq foot is about average, so the rv roof can generate 6.8 KW. Parked you could reasonable set out a solar awning and double that to 13.6 KW. Most existing class As are between 12000 and 30000 lbs. We are taking a 40' RV, so go to the top end of that. The F150 lightning and the Rivian both with around 8500 lbs and do about 50 kwh/100 miles on 135 kwh batteries, so a theoretical RV would likely need (very roughly) 3-4x truck equivalents of weight to maintain similar range characteristics (taking a little jump here, but most of that truck weight is battery and you still need to put an RV on top). The likely power requirements are 150-200 kwh/100 miles and 400-500 kwh of battery. The means that, at the 6.8- 13.6 KW of solar panels are adding maybe a few miles an hour to range. Not impossible to boondock it and charge over the time, but going from 10% to 85 is going to take you a good chunk of the week under pretty optimal conditions.
- elcritch 4y ago
  That's awesome! I've not actually run the numbers, but yours sound about right. Though you might be able to add say 2 awnings to triple the regular roof. Of course, that adds weight, etc. Alas it doesn't seem sustainable to self-charge for most. Not many people probably want to take half a week to re-charge for every few hundred miles they go. Then again maybe for some it'd "add to the journey". It would still seem cool to do it all. If you were in a spot for a month, then you'd get a free "drive" afterwards. And the ability to boondock with effectively unlimited battery storage would be awesome.
  - topkai22 4y ago
    While I don't think a fully self sustaining RV is practical for many use cases, it does open up some interesting possibilities- even with the relatively slow charge is enough to add maybe 30-50 miles of range over a weekend. That should calm range anxiety as there are going to progressively be less and less places more than 60 miles from a charging station. Cost is a problem. Batteries are expensive - I saw $132/kwh as a low point, so at least $60k just for batteries, and maybe $3-6k for the solar stuff. That's half the cost of a low end class A already. Charging even at normal stations will also be interesting. Will you be able to plug in to multiple chargers at once? If not, even most "fast" chargers are going to take hours.

seanmcdirmid 4y ago

RV parks are also great places to find level 2 chargers even for non-RV EVs. If you are driving up to Alaska, most of the trip they are basically your only option right now.

Robotbeat 4y ago
I went on a long road trip recently with my Model S and charged up at RV parks where we tent camped. It's $10 more than a non-electric site, but that charge's range is worth about $30 worth of gasoline, so it's an easy win and you can skip the time to supercharge.
- solardev 4y ago
  RV parks are probably going to start metering electricity if this becomes more commonplace... I imagine charging an EV takes a lot more energy than charging an RV, no?
  - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
    They will charge by time (like by day as is common now) in most cases, since metering by usage often requires being regulated as a utility.
    - solardev 4y ago
      Are out those ev chargers regulated as utilities then?
      - seanmcdirmid 4y ago
        Depends on the jurisdiction. In BC Canada at least, it has to be by time.

topkai22 4y ago

So I've run some rough numbers on this- solar power a 40 ft class A is 8.5 ft wide, so 340 Sq ft of surface area. It appears that 20 watts per Sq foot is about average, so the rv roof can generate 6.8 KW. Parked you could reasonable set out a solar awning and double that to 13.6 KW. Most existing class As are between 12000 and 30000 lbs. We are taking a 40' RV, so go to the top end of that. The F150 lightning and the Rivian both with around 8500 lbs and do about 50 kwh/100 miles on 135 kwh batteries, so a theoretical RV would likely need (very roughly) 3-4x truck equivalents of weight to maintain similar range characteristics (taking a little jump here, but most of that truck weight is battery and you still need to put an RV on top). The likely power requirements are 150-200 kwh/100 miles and 400-500 kwh of battery. The means that, at the 6.8- 13.6 KW of solar panels are adding maybe a few miles an hour to range. Not impossible to boondock it and charge over the time, but going from 10% to 85 is going to take you a good chunk of the week under pretty optimal conditions.

elcritch 4y ago
That's awesome! I've not actually run the numbers, but yours sound about right. Though you might be able to add say 2 awnings to triple the regular roof. Of course, that adds weight, etc. Alas it doesn't seem sustainable to self-charge for most. Not many people probably want to take half a week to re-charge for every few hundred miles they go. Then again maybe for some it'd "add to the journey". It would still seem cool to do it all. If you were in a spot for a month, then you'd get a free "drive" afterwards. And the ability to boondock with effectively unlimited battery storage would be awesome.
- topkai22 4y ago
  While I don't think a fully self sustaining RV is practical for many use cases, it does open up some interesting possibilities- even with the relatively slow charge is enough to add maybe 30-50 miles of range over a weekend. That should calm range anxiety as there are going to progressively be less and less places more than 60 miles from a charging station. Cost is a problem. Batteries are expensive - I saw $132/kwh as a low point, so at least $60k just for batteries, and maybe $3-6k for the solar stuff. That's half the cost of a low end class A already. Charging even at normal stations will also be interesting. Will you be able to plug in to multiple chargers at once? If not, even most "fast" chargers are going to take hours.