DIY Electric RV?

[bennelson]

My original thought on this whole thing is that I could buy an ELECTRIC box truck for LESS than a USED NISSAN LEAF.

I built a teardrop trailer about ten years ago for less than $2,000.

I also now have friends who work as full-time RV mechanics, and can get me parts at cost (or better yet, I'd just use the things they remove and throw in the dumpster.)

I could probably build a full-time-living FULLY ELECTRIC RV/TinyHouse for about $7,000-$8,000!

I'd hate to be negative, but some of the folks on the forum right now seem to be giving off the same vibe as the naysayers of the Electro-Metro, saying what can't be done, or isn't worth it, dragging down the people who actually ARE DOING SOME OF THESE THINGS!

How about some positive vibes here?

[JSH]

Originally Posted by bennelson

My original thought on this whole thing is that I could buy an ELECTRIC box truck for LESS than a USED NISSAN LEAF.

I built a teardrop trailer about ten years ago for less than $2,000.

I also now have friends who work as full-time RV mechanics, and can get me parts at cost (or better yet, I'd just use the things they remove and throw in the dumpster.)

I could probably build a full-time-living FULLY ELECTRIC RV/TinyHouse for about $7,000-$8,000!

I'd hate to be negative, but some of the folks on the forum right now seem to be giving off the same vibe as the naysayers of the Electro-Metro, saying what can't be done, or isn't worth it, dragging down the people who actually ARE DOING SOME OF THESE THINGS!

How about some positive vibes here?

I'm sure you could build a fully electric RV / Tiny House for less than $8,000 especially if you can source free stuff from an RV dealer and these used box trucks have good batteries. (My brother-in-law works as a mechanic and an RV dealer and they throw out all kinds of almost new stuff)

Then what? What are you going to do with the RV? That is the key question.

• Are you going to live in it full time? If so I would look for a place to park it because RV lots average about $45 a night. I don't know about WI but here on the West coast cities are becoming very hostile to RVs camping on the street.
• Are you going vacation and travel in it? If so then range is a real issue because you are unlikely to get more than 50-75 miles on a charge
• Are you going to do what most of my neighbors do and park it behind your house? No problems then

BTW, I like your electric KZ. I followed that project on 300mpg.org

[bennelson]

Most of the comments in the previous post apply to any RV or Tiny House.

Range is the big question.
Mainstream people used to think of even the idea of an electric car being ridiculous, yet today, many of us drive EVs on a daily basis.

With existing technology right now, probably the best use for an all electric "live-in" vehicle would be to have some sort of semi-permanent home for it on vacation land in a reasonable distance to other eco-touristy areas (state parks, public lands, etc.)

Right now, I have some friends who own unimproved land on a lake. It's got some nice lake frontage, but no electricity. They don't have a trailer or any permanent building there. There's a (free) DC Fast charger only a few miles from there, and several state parks and natural areas within EV range.

Something along those lines would probably be best use for such a vehicle. I can imagine lots of people who would be interested in such a rental.

In New Zealand, there's a company that has an all electric RV. On their rental page, they have an itinerary of a suggested touring route, including charging locations and various places to stay. Sounds like a nice way to travel, if you ask me!
https://www.britzev.com

Again, really throwing ideas around more than anything.

[freebeard]

School bus with an electric chipper and an APU that runs on wood alcohol or wood gas?

....and a composting toilet.

[Piotrsko]

My $0.02 YMMV: I thought most of the electric delivery trucks got around 100+ miles a charge, but adding a bunch of battery will blow through the majority of 8 grand. Most of the delivery drivers I know run the throttle in 2 states: full on, full off, then brake hard. Some economy can be had with other strategies.

100 miles is within the charger network spacing, but drive for 2 hours, recharge for many hours could be aggravating.

I have range to make Truckee from my house on paper with the ranger, I'm not going to attempt it, too many unforseen variables some of which have nothing to do with the battery.

[bennelson]

Here's the video of a friend and I road-tripping to go buy the Smith cargo truck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPQ8s2QYudk

[bennelson]

Here's the first view of the trucks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il_WOMNksDs

[bennelson]

Another installment of video on this project.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZjZ6FH-24c

[bennelson]

Ha!
We made it work!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kizqSjZL-G4

[bennelson]

The doors on the back of the truck are electric. We were able to power them up, open the doors, and finally look inside the back.

Lots of space in there.

It already has bunk beds!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_GF775A-WE