Electric campers aren’t a matter of if, they are just when.
In 2018 Action, which is NZ owned, based and in fact the Southern Hemisphere’s largest motorhome manufacturer, started developing the world’s first commercially viable electric motorhome. The Britz Ev has been available to rent for a year now. Britz, Kea and Maui are Action’s rental arms. The big downside, the 120 km range, which is Hamilton to Auckland…. or in time 1.40 hours. Britz rent out the eVolves from Auckland and Queenstown with suggested routes and stops to tap into charging stations to combat the crippling charge range.
While most of us wouldn’t consider the eVolve as a viable camper just yet, the exciting thing is that a New Zealand company is leading the charge [sorry, had to drop that dad joke in.] with Ev campers and in fact are the first to market with one.
The shrewd among you will already be thinking ‘Hold on, that eVolve is built on a LDV van, I can buy one of those [for $81,000nzd] and convert it.’ Yes, as of last year most of the large manufacturers finally released Ev van models, Mercedes with the eSprinter and eVito, and Fiat with the Ducato Electric [Ford Transit electric is due 2021] but again they have crippling range… so far.
Seeing how this is a Dreaming post and we are crystal ball gazing what about this beast? The Tesla Cybertruck. You can preorder now from Tesla NZ for an AWD starting at $77,682 nzd. The range is a staggering 800+ kilometres. Towing capacity is 6 tonne and payload up to 1587 kgs. So you could easily tow a huge caravan or perhaps load on a Slide-on.
Hot on Tesla’s heels, is Californian Rivian, who are basing their marketing around adventuring. Their R1T Truck [basically an electric double cab ute] starting at $115,000 nzd on preorder. It’s range is less than the Cybertruck…but still decent at 650kms. It runs motors on all 4 wheels.
Seems wasteful to just throw away your perfectly good camper aye? Well retro-fitting electric motors is coming along in leaps and bounds. You’ve probably seen the Mercury Energy advert with the classic Ford 57 Ford Fairlaine converted to fully electric.
British camper company eDub is converting classic the Kombi. Check them out HERE
