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Electrification is working its way around all aspects of mobility but one of the few remaining frontiers is RVs. Specifically, the kind of RVs we drive to get away from people and get lost for a while. Winnebago’s latest electric RV prototype has a way to go before it’ll be ready for #Vanlife, but it’s an indication that EVs and RVs can live together in harmony.
Dubbed the Winnebago eRV2, the latest prototype is based on a Ford E-Transit chassis and uses the Blue Oval’s 68-kilowatt-hour battery underneath. The rated range for the van is just over 100 miles, although Winnebago claims its range is somewhere between 100-140 miles in the real world. Powering the RV’s living space is a 15-kWh battery that Winnebago says is good for about a week of boondocking, or living off the grid without power, sewer, or water hookups. Helping maintain that power is a 900-watt solar panel that helps to recharge the eRV’s internal battery, although that weeklong estimate doesn’t include any heat or A/C by Winnebago’s own admission.
Although the range is relatively scant, the concept is sound. Winnebago says the eRV will serve as a basis for an electric RV coming in the future. The company also said it’s considering a range extender of sorts to boost the relatively paltry 100-mile range of the eRV prototype, which isn’t exactly ideal for an RV built to crisscross the interstates, highways, and dirt roads of America for days on end.
As for the rest, it’s pretty classy inside. All the amenities include a refrigerator, bed, two workspaces, high-speed wi-fi router, TVs, touchscreen climate controls—you know, the jazz. A plug-in hybrid RV makes a lot more sense right now than all EV, but at least electrification is making its way to more places, including the great outdoors. It’s one of few places where a roaring engine or thrumming generator is more than just annoying, it’s spoiling the show.
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