What option would you add?
Each year MH manufacturers come up with new features and gadgets that make you want to buy a newer motorhome. So here are 2 questions for you: 1: What feature/option would you add to your existing...
Forum Discussion
I would love to see a motorhome with the electrical systems integrated into a hybrid drivetrain. This would mean a large battery bank (probably Li-ion), and power to the wheels at least partially via an electric traction motor of some sort, and a generator/alternator hooked up to the main engine to charge the batteries, etc. It would seem to me that a series hybrid setup might be the simplest, at least in concept, where the wheels are only powered by the electric motors and the engine only drives the generator.
The advantages seem pretty obvious and numerous: braking would be, in large part, regenerative, and this would lead to improved milage in city or mountainous driving. The battery bank could be charged by shore power and/or solar power, as well, providing for the possibility of all-electric travel for short distances if needed—nice even if it's only sufficient to leave the campground quietly in the early morning. You could eliminate the separate generator altogether, and presumably have a large enough battery bank to boondock for a long period of time. With a sufficient battery bank and inverter system, you'd be much less limited in what appliances you could use when connected to a lower capacity shore power source, provided of course your long-term average usage isn't too high.
I am pretty sure I would not be able to afford such a machine, however.
The advantages seem pretty obvious and numerous: braking would be, in large part, regenerative, and this would lead to improved milage in city or mountainous driving. The battery bank could be charged by shore power and/or solar power, as well, providing for the possibility of all-electric travel for short distances if needed—nice even if it's only sufficient to leave the campground quietly in the early morning. You could eliminate the separate generator altogether, and presumably have a large enough battery bank to boondock for a long period of time. With a sufficient battery bank and inverter system, you'd be much less limited in what appliances you could use when connected to a lower capacity shore power source, provided of course your long-term average usage isn't too high.
I am pretty sure I would not be able to afford such a machine, however.
