Looking for Roadtrek RS E-TREK owner feedback

[TXPhillygirl]

My husband and I are considering purchasing the Roadtrek RS E-TREK. This will be our first RV. We have not been able to find any reviews by anyone who actually owns one. Is there anyone out there who owns an E-Trek that could give some us some honest feedback?

[booster]

Arizona Kid wrote:
It looks 4 hrs (which may be enough for a lot of owners) is about the most the E-Trek will run the A/C without fast idiling the engine, and using the added engine gen. to charge the batteries, and run the A/C. There still are some questions about idiling the engine, but looks like it is OK with MB, as long as Rt's recommendations are followed.

Where did you find info on it being OK with MB? Everything I have seen from MB says one hour or so before driving it quite a bit to clean the DPF and EGR systems. Roadtrek now is saying you need to charge longer than the original 40 minutes and that you need to run the van to have air conditioning, which would imply continuous running, I think.

[Arizona_Kid]

It looks 4 hrs (which may be enough for a lot of owners) is about the most the E-Trek will run the A/C without fast idiling the engine, and using the added engine gen. to charge the batteries, and run the A/C. There still are some questions about idiling the engine, but looks like it is OK with MB, as long as Rt's recommendations are followed. There are a lot of secrets about the electrical system that I would want answered before I purchased one.
The owners on the FB page who own the E-Trek, or CS Adventurous, seem pretty happy with them, but are having some problems with the learning curve.
Personally, I would wait a year or two, before purchasing one, let Rt get the bugs worked out.
I do applaud Rt for thinking outside the box, and bringing new technology to a very stagnant small RV industry.

[Davydd]

As for the E-Trek, it seems to me it was designed with some capacity to run an air conditioner. At first they boasted 9 hours and then backed off considerably even after changing over to diesel hydronic heating and hot water to seemingly alleviate battery use. With that result, in my situation, I think it is rather over-designed somewhat.

First, we rarely run our air conditioner and we are on the road a third of the year. We try to plan and follow the weather. I'd never consider going to Florida or Arizona in July for instance. We did get caught up in 100F weather last month in Kansas and ended up running our air conditioner one day in the campground. However, we were plugged in to shore power. So that was once out of 300 plus days in three years and 56,000 miles travel with our current B.

Secondly, for dry camping. We dry camped in California with our previous B on one single auxiliary battery once for 14 straight days. We dry camped 9 straight days in southern Utah last month with our current B on two auxiliary batteries. With good battery management and care it is really rather easy to do.

With extra battery capacity and solar I do see one advantage. I would consider getting rid of both propane and the generator. If I could do that and run the microwave, brew coffee and worry less about that smart battery management I would be all set.

[mlts22]

As an alternative to the E-Trek, I wonder how the OP would fare with a Roadtrek CS Adventurous. I mention this as an alternative to the E-Trek, because the CS Adventurous can come with virtually all the stuff the E-Trek does, except it has the option of a propane generator. To boot, the fridge on the CS Adventurous is a bit bigger as well, although the TV hangs down from the ceiling as opposed to be mounted on an articulated holder that can fold out and in.

If one doesn't like Roadtreks, one can go with an all-diesel Sportsmobile conversion. In fact, one of their two YouTube vids showing off a rig (the other vid is on the NV conversion) is showing a floorplan that is completely diesel based. Of course, when you add everything up, you will be paying an E-Trek price for their offering.

[Davydd]

sand crab wrote:
I owned an RS Adventerous 2012. Found it problematical. In sufficient cooling with an ll,000 btu, without a thermostat for cooling. Only had 1500 miles on it. Took only one trip. Uncomfortable bed, small refrigerator. Microwave was on the floor, had to kneel down to check on food when cooking. Wound up trading it for a 2013 Winnebago View Profile 24G. Best move I ever made was trading it. Asked Roadtrek CEO for help, was unable to answer questions on a/c thermostat, nor size of a/c i.e. roof supportable weight, electrical connections. Advice was park it in the shade. Bed was a bench that made into a bed, not a bed that made into a bed. If you do decide to get one, get a used one, it won't cost you like it did me, I paid 122,000 for mine. Took a huge loss on it. Hope this helps.

The 11,000 btu air conditioner is pretty much the industry standard for Sprinters the size of the RS Adventurous. The AC is either running or not running and usually if it is that hot to need one it is going to run continuously and no thermostat is going to help. As for size, it is probably adequate for most of the nation most of the time. If you are from Florida I would think you should have investigated and been more cognizant of the situation.

As for the bed, when you spend over a hundred grand you are suppose to investigate those kind of things ahead of time. Even at that a lot of people modify their beds for comfort with modifications and foam toppers and that is true with most all Bs. Comfort is subjective in the bottom line. Some of us could sleep on a board.

Small refrigerator? At the time it was pretty standard for most all Bs. They are just now starting to install bigger ones.

Microwave on the floor? Duh! Didn't you figure that one out ahead of time? I did and it was one of the debit marks that eliminated Roadtrek from my consideration.

Winnebago View? Apples and oranges. Not a B.

Those are all comments you made that just highlight your own failings in the situation.

[Arizona_Kid]

Having been on this forum for 11 years, most owners have been pretty happy with the RT's. It seems to me your complaints are more from your lack of doing your homework before you purchased, than a problem with the Roadtrek.
As for the CEO answering your Email, will I think he has better things to than answer questions that are in the owners manual, or can be gotten from your dealer. If you have a problem with your Ford, etc, do you contact the CEO of Ford Motors for an answer for something as minor as a thermostat, or how big the tires are?
Also, if you paid $122,000 you way overpaid, and is another sign that you didn't prepare well. Your purchase seems like a spur of the moment decision, and a case of buyers remorse, so instead of blaming yourself for you bad decision, you are putting the blame on Roadtrek.
Now can we get back to the OP's questions about the E-Trek.

[sand_crab]

I understand that, just thought they might like an experience of what it is like to deal with RT's customer relations. If they have a problem with the E trek as described in some of the other posts then they would want to know what to expect when they purchased the etrek. I would have before buying the RS Adv and dealing with management. Even in Arizona this would be true...

[Arizona_Kid]

The op was asking about the E-Trek not complaints about your poor decision in buying a 2012 Adventurous.

[sand_crab]

I owned an RS Adventerous 2012. Found it problematical. In sufficient cooling with an ll,000 btu, without a thermostat for cooling. Only had 1500 miles on it. Took only one trip. Uncomfortable bed, small refrigerator. Microwave was on the floor, had to kneel down to check on food when cooking. Wound up trading it for a 2013 Winnebago View Profile 24G. Best move I ever made was trading it. Asked Roadtrek CEO for help, was unable to answer questions on a/c thermostat, nor size of a/c i.e. roof supportable weight, electrical connections. Advice was park it in the shade. Bed was a bench that made into a bed, not a bed that made into a bed. If you do decide to get one, get a used one, it won't cost you like it did me, I paid 122,000 for mine. Took a huge loss on it. Hope this helps.

[booster]

Be sure to go to the current Roadtrek site, as they have pretty severely revised what they say the e-trek can do on batteries, and how long they take to charge. Those specs had been in question for a long time, and what they are now is probably correct. If you read from current owners, they very well could be comparing their usage to the original claims, so they would be getting something like 1/2 of what was claimed.

[BroncosFan]

A owner here, scroll toward the bottom to "Dalton Hanks" "bought a new Roadtrek Etrek at the cost of $135000!"

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/water_loss_acid_stratification_and_surface_charge/

[BroncosFan]

A little info here, maybe find an owner, If this guy is typical of others, it looks like the capabilities have been quite a bit overstated

http://www.sprinter-source.com/forum/showpost.php?p=253237&postcount=27

http://www.sprinter-source.com/forum/showpost.php?p=253274&postcount=28

[Davydd]

NCWriter wrote:
The only person I recall who has posted on RV Net (some time in the past) who now also owns that model Roadtrek is "PC Mike" Wendland, who has a Roadtreking blog. Note that Roadtrek is one of his blog’s sponsors, so it may not be the best source for candid owner information you are seeking. (Unfortunately that blog started out interesting when he bought a different Class B a couple of years ago, but early on seemed to switch to focus kind of heavily on selling products.)

That's true. It is not very objective nor is it very technical from an experience perspective. Still seems to be a dearth of detailed experience reports out there.

[NCWriter]

The only person I recall who has posted on RV Net (some time in the past) who now also owns that model Roadtrek is "PC Mike" Wendland, who has a Roadtreking blog. Note that Roadtrek is one of his blog’s sponsors, so it may not be the best source for candid owner information you are seeking. (Unfortunately that blog started out interesting when he bought a different Class B a couple of years ago, but early on seemed to switch to focus kind of heavily on selling products.)

[Davydd]

Mike Wendland got the first one I understand and he has reported extensively.

http://roadtreking.com/