Yes, I figure I can drive this to work each day, on electric power only. 2kW of panels on the roof is easily enough to fully recharge the batteries even if its cloudy - it is only a 50km round trip (25km each way).
Been a while since I posted here - I ended up looking at all those original plans/concepts I've drawn up, and realising that they were still all inferior to the Vixen, which is a 30 year old design. It had lower profile (1.8m high), good Cd, fairly low weight and good space/usability as a motorhome. Not available here in Australia though.
So I've been looking at ideas to actually advance/progress on past products/solutions. These include:
- a frame/body design that allows the floor of the motorhome to be very low to the ground (which means the roof profile can be correspondingly lower). The floor of most motorhomes is 0.8m or more above ground, which is very inefficient.
- A section of drop down flooring (rather than pop top roof). Just the main isle, which is also where you stand when at the kitchen. That way the solar panels on the roof are less affected, and I think sealing is easier too.
- adjustable height suspension, via airbags. Low for highway aerodynamics, medium for around town (sufficient clearance to ground) and high for offroad.
- all electric, very low Cd.
I've worked out a lot of the design concepts. The main problem is that this is now a completely custom vehicle- would have to be built as an ICV (Individually Constructed Vehicle). Which means an incredibly painful and expensive process to get approved and registered. Also a huge amount of design and construction work. I'm currently looking into those issues and considering if I want to take it on or not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr
Trailers might have some advantages, but I still believe a small motorhome might not turn into an exercise of gross excess all-year round. Assuming that you could get a pop-up roof to keep the overall height contained while driving, it would already decrease the overall drag. When it comes to interior arrangements, you could eventually attempt to make it easily reconfigured from campervan to cargo (even though some structures would require a more permanent or semi-permanent fitment such as the washroom and the kitchen).
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