This Solar-Powered RV Runs Without Fuel Or Charging Stations

That’s a long day, tuna.

Hi Naio,

Mine too!

The "house" battery is 300 amp-hours @ 24 volts or 7200 watt-hours.

Your AGM's may only be 50% of 500 X 12 volts or 3000 watt-hours.

My AGM bank is about the same as yours.

Naio wrote:


Driving 100 miles every 3 days while boondocking, with some nights at electric sites, is about my speed!

I would certainly bring along my current 500 ah of agms, though.

And don't forget to account for the shadows cast on the panels every time this thing drives past a tree or three.

Ah, yeah, you are probably right!

Naio wrote:
Given that most of the solar is on the sides, it would take advantage of sunrise to sunset solar power, right? Assuming you camp on a flat desert or beach :B.

So, about 3 days to charge, not 10.

I don't think so. The article claims "up to" 3000 watts. I'd bet they're simply adding up all the solar panels, so you'd only get that if it was illuminated by suns from all sides. Even if it is realistic, solar irradiance is limited by atmospheric attenuation when the sun is low, so you still can't claim sunrise to sunset. And don't forget to account for overcast weather.

3000 watts is about 5 horsepower, so it will not be running very fast after the first 100 miles. However 100 miles is a good distance in Western Europe, and sitting in camp for several days could recharge for the trip home, but plugging in to another source 4KW to 8KW would speed things along.

The electric vehicle side of this is reasonable for the right market (my most used campground is a 40 mile round trip) but the solar charging is at a sort of concept vehicle stage, something to take to the RV show.

Given that most of the solar is on the sides, it would take advantage of sunrise to sunset solar power, right? Assuming you camp on a flat desert or beach :B.

So, about 3 days to charge, not 10.

Driving 100 miles every 3 days while boondocking, with some nights at electric sites, is about my speed!

I would certainly bring along my current 500 ah of agms, though.

It comes with an optional Blue Ox base plate. :B

pianotuna wrote:
Drive battery is 91200 watt-hours (or 91.2 KWH). Could be charged by 50 amp service in 7.2 hours

or

31 hours of perfect solar.

So that’s about 100 miles every ten days, less whatever power is used by the house.

That’s going to be a long slow cross country trip. A team of horses could do better.

This is kind of cool, but I would prefer a decent Hybrid Camper Van with a 50 mpg performance and a long, long range