Electric motorhome

[Sonar]

Is there an electric moho that will do more than 300 miles yet or is that yet to come..

 

[wildebus]

Is there an electric moho that will do more than 300 miles yet or is that yet to come..

yes and no.
there is a German brand (possibly Knaus?) who are demonstrating a Motorhome on a chassis that has electric motors instead of an engine under the bonnet has a Generator. When the drive battery is low, the generator fires up and provides electric power to the motor that turns the wheel. So the range is basically down to the size of the fuel tank that the generator draws from.
But you do still have electric only power available for around - I think - 80 miles? But that could be very handy for stop-start driving in built-up areas. To my mind that is a very good compromise bearing in mind the size of battery that would be needed for a decent touring range on a heavy vehicle and I believe because the wheels are driven by Electricity only, it is classed as an Electric Vehicle (may not be a 'BEV', but it is still an EV, albeit with its own on-board electric generator rather than a plug-in recharge. Off-grid EV )

 

[Pudsey Bear]

I would have thought someone would have made a Hybrid MoHo by now.

 

[Sonar]

If someone does not move in the electric moho way soon then there will only be used ones for sale when the new law comes in about electric cars ect .

And if they do come up with an electric moho then the price would be double to start with.

 

[nabsim]

I doubt it will ever be mains stream electric for commercial stuff, much more likely to be hydrogen or gas I think

 

[Sonar]

Lorry’s some vans like the post office and supermarkets already use electric vans
So a moho i would have thought was not a difficult task.
It’s just more like a weight thing that will affect the use of them.
I cant see them keeping a std moho under the 3500 kg

 

[tonybvi]

Not available here but the Tesla semi has just managed several stop start delivery runs of just over 500miles in the States between charges starting off with a full load, as well as being in service with Pepsi. I have seen pictures of a motorhome concept built onto the semi truck cab (rather than as an artic) but I do wonder about the practicalities, especially charging such a huge battery bank.

 

[Greengrass]

on ebay Del

 

[andromeda]

What about catching fire? Is that not a problem with some electric vehicles? Larger battery etc.

 

[trevskoda]

What about catching fire? Is that not a problem with some electric vehicles? Larger battery etc.

No not with lipo4 im told, remember only 6 years and you wont be abble to buy an i.c.e. powered van, new weight limit to go up to 4.225 tons an standard licence.

 

[QFour]

I suppose you could use the bike rack for a generator that would increase the range of a battery powered MH

 

[Boris7]

What about catching fire? Is that not a problem with some electric vehicles? Larger battery etc.

No, EVs are no more likely to burst into flames than any other vehicle.

What is an issue is should they do so, putting the fire out is a problem.

As for an Electric Motorhome, the technology is a long way off, even cars can’t reliably hit the 300 mile target, mine has an official range of 329miles, but that’s just not real. In effect you don’t charge to 100% only 80%, and you avoid discharging below 20% this is to preserve battery life, so an EV with 300 mile range is actually only 180miles.

But in cold weather the range is reduced, so an EV with 300mile range is actually only some 140miles in winter.

Don’t get me wrong I love mine, but avoid listening to the manufacturers mileage claims, it’s just too subjective the average miles/kwh for my car is 2.9, but I get 5.5 at times, when I decide to push on I get as little as 1.9 which gives me an effective range (20-80%) of about 90miles.

But it charges off solar panels or OIG and cost next to nothing to run

 

[trevskoda]

I wonder what resale value will be when hitting 10 years & a used battery pack is over 5 grand, i may be daft but im not stuped.

 

[Boris7]

Tbh I completely disagree I think your stupid, but not daft

 

[gasgas]

No, EVs are no more likely to burst into flames than any other vehicle.

What is an issue is should they do so, putting the fire out is a problem.

As for an Electric Motorhome, the technology is a long way off, even cars can’t reliably hit the 300 mile target, mine has an official range of 329miles, but that’s just not real. In effect you don’t charge to 100% only 80%, and you avoid discharging below 20% this is to preserve battery life, so an EV with 300 mile range is actually only 180miles.

But in cold weather the range is reduced, so an EV with 300mile range is actually only some 140miles in winter.

Don’t get me wrong I love mine, but avoid listening to the manufacturers mileage claims, it’s just too subjective the average miles/kwh for my car is 2.9, but I get 5.5 at times, when I decide to push on I get as little as 1.9 which gives me an effective range (20-80%) of about 90miles.

But it charges off solar panels or OIG and cost next to nothing to run

No, EVs are no more likely to burst into flames than any other vehicle.
Other vehicles don't self combust while just sitting still doing nothing, as EV batteries do.
Putting out the fire is as you say a problem because the battery generates its own oxygen when burning. The only thing that can be done is to dump the vehicle into deep water to cool the combustion.
As for the life and cost of replacement batteries I had a Leaf for two years. As I have solar panels, I would rush outside and plug the car in whenever the sun was shining on the panels. Then after 8000 miles and two years it needed a new battery. 5 year warranty on the battery. Back to the dealer who plugged their computer in which registers all the details of each occasion when it was recharged. Dealer said warranty is invalid because I plugged it in to recharge it when it was already 80% charged. That invalidates the warranty. £5000 for a new battery, Sir.
So you should factor in an annual running cost of £2500 just for the battery. Or defeat the on board computer which allows the battery to be overcharged and thus invalidate the warranty, by not recharging it over 80%. Also the warranty is invalid if you let it drop below 20%. So the actual range is 60% of the real range which in turn is perhaps 80% of the claimed range.
And since the government is full of people who buy and run cars at tax payers expense, they don't care about the cost so they bring in laws such as no more ICE cars without regard to the fact that Joe Bloggs working at a crisp factory can't afford an EV. What will happen is either they will abandon the law of no more ICE cars, or they will postpone it again, or the price of used ICE cars will rise with time. This is similar to what happened when I was working in Nigeria. They brought in a law saying no cars older than ten years can be imported. People who needed cars could not afford a ten year old car, so the old cars were kept running. See my avatar, I'll try and post one here:

 

[trevskoda]

I suspect there will be a massive sale on ice cars in the last year if date not moved, however the gov will put road tax up and fuel tax so it will be eq to running a lecy car, that is unless folk stand up and kick ar-e.

 

[Eriba]

If you look at speeches given recently very carefully manufacturers are back peddling on pure EVs and in Europe it's been pushed back for 5 years. Given the enormous amount of unsold new EVs the pressure is on to rethink.
Don't try trading in your five year old EV if you have a weak heart it seems.
My gut tells me we are in the Betamax Vs VHS period, Betamax was by far better but the price eventually killed it.
Interesting times .

 

[Eriba]

Not hype but figures.
The US market is slightly different of course as Gas prices are very low compared with the UK.
I have no idea where it will end however I do hate all my eggs in one basket, electric powered everything! Certainly not for me.
Fortunately I keep my motorhome in Catalonia where fuel roughly is 1.25 pl. and vehicle tax 110.
Used prices in the region are very high compared to the UK as most people keep there cars 20 years plus and the company car market does not exist effectively.
If EVs worked I would buy yes especially as my electricity is 0.15c pKh and my solar panels reduced it roughly by half most of the year's. Mind you when I say down after the event of course found solar panels were not really worth the investment due to the capital costs and life expectancy etc.
But we do these things.

 

[mariesnowgoose]

To my simplistic thinking, building more hybrids would have been a better, more sensible interim option by manufacturers than concentrating their efforts 100% on all-electric vehicles.

This would have allowed a more sensible and "paced" transition, but hey! what do I know? I'm just an ignoramus with all this vehicle stuff

All I do know is governments and big business should have been long term planning well over 20 years ago, but I think we all kinda know that short-termism and instant (profit) gratification is all they're capable of doing. The future? What's that?! Somebody else can deal with that, not their problem

 

[nabsim]

No not with lipo4 im told, remember only 6 years and you wont be abble to buy an i.c.e. powered van, new weight limit to go up to 4.225 tons a standard licence.

11 years Trev, they put the deadline back to 2035