Also a big advantage is that the battery in the camper can also be used for ac and heat usage while not needing to connect to a outlet. This is so nice
@@kadmow it has 1800w of solar panels on the roof, so it will charge while you're driving. I have an RV with 2700w of solar on the roof and a much smaller pack. I keep my AC at 70 degrees 24/7 in the Nevada desert and never have to charge, my only limiting factor is capacity for overcast days. I over produce with my array on my roof, so if I expand my pack I could live in my RV 365 days a year. If you use a heatpump like they (and I) do, you can easily maintain comfortable temperatures for 150-200watts. The old rooftop ACs on RVs chug power, like 1000-2000watts. Modern minisplits are 4-5x as efficient easily.
@@Steve-qn8gn Indefinitely if you are even remotely careful with your power usage. People in the RV community figured out a long time ago that you have a big flat roof, so cover it in solar. I slapped 5x 550w residential panels on my 22ft class A RV, and I have not run my genny in a long long time. Just a trip to Oregon when it rained for the ENTIRE TRIP. Even then, my pack was fully charged in 4 hours of generator usage. You don't just get rid of the generator if you plan on boondocking, it's all about layers of power. The genny is a backup to the solar charging, my RV already had it, why would I get rid of it?
@@meikgeik to be clear, the battery pack is going to be close to spent when you arrive because it’s been assisting during travel. The solar panels will take a long time to charge a pack like that. The truck should be feeding power too, no one mentioned that is happening so I have to believe it doesn’t. No way your only pulling 200 watts heating and cooling that trailer.
Absolutely in love with this thing. But sometimes with love comes heartbreak, when it was mentioned that it’s a 3 season camper 😭. My primary use case for an RV is ski trips. Looking forward to seeing this company grow, maybe bring out a smaller model
I got up at Mammoth couple weeks ago day before the huge snow storm and saw this huge 30ft rv trying to camp off the road in the snow. He got stuck and had to get towed out. 😂 Vans or other 4wd are best for skiing trips IMO.
@@Gary-ee3kq Sorry, but this thing is a glorified (not in a bad way) Hi-Lo trailer or Alaskan camper. You will never be able to keep up with the heat loss through these seals. Love the concept though.
Honestly compare it to almost any other RV of this size or even some custom rv van builds and the price becomes an incredibly good value proposition. Hell at overland last year, a number of the van builds I saw were upwards of $200k
@@rayman301030 For that price I would rather get an Airstream for that price. You get an aerodynamic design and quality all in a 4 season capable package. In comparison it is a terrible package considering how well Airstreams hold their value.
37:22 My preferred RV form factor is a truck camper and the only 2 manufacturers I would consider are #1 Northern Lite and #2 Bigfoot. Would love for Lightship to come up with a truck camper version, call it the Light Pod or something. Slide down for aero, slide up for camp mode.
I laughed at the ad at 1:35. Two ladies holding their charging handles and talking. What the heck do they think? That I hold the handle all this time when the car is charging. LOL. Eaton, please.
Wonderful design! I like the poop tube design, especially. I rebuilt a 33' 1972 Streamline and towed it about 6000 miles before selling. The road is a dirty, bumpy, dangerous environment. I'd worry about all that glass/polycarbonate. I'd also worry about all the wiring, and the liquid cooling system. That's a LOT of complications.
Couple points. That's super cool with advanced tech for sure, but at $250k you really, really have to want it. Relative to the alternative this is 8x-10x more expensive than a normal 26ft travel trailer with slides, awning, full size fridge, TV, etc. I mean you can get yourself a pretty nice used 40' diesel pusher at that price. I'm sure it'd kill the aero, but I've never see a travel trailer going down the road without bikes and other crap attached to the bumper (hitch) on the trailer. IMHO the coolest part is the total power integration: Traction, HVAC, Solar, Charging, Export. It's mind blowing that the RV industry doesn't have any of this, especially in the $1m+ category. I don't even think I've seen simple hybrid power. Their idea of "integration" is using the same diesel tank for the engine, generator, and hot water heater. I couldn't agree more on AC (instead of DC) power export. IMHO....DC doesn't make sense even (I'd say especially) if one already has solar because we already have purchased inverters sized to our total panel capacity. There is no extra inverter capacity (everybody clips) until it's dark. Then consider the MPPTs are typically sized for
You could buy the most savage AIRSTREAM they make today for the cost of this thing and it would last for like 60 years. This thing has the lifespan of your electric vehicle.
When I saw him describing it, in my head I thought "Holy crap! This thing is gonna cost $80,000!" (thinking that was a large number) Apparently I wasnt close.
@ch784 that’s only because dealers insist on replacing an entire battery pack even if only a single cell needs replacing. It’s no different than a dealer trying to replace an entire engine or transmission when a repair shop could fix it. There are more and more independent shops doing battery service, and it doesn’t cost a fraction of the dealer markup.
40:38 Okay hell yeah brother, stinky slinky is definitely a problem that needed to be solved. Absolutely love that. Also V2L is so legit. I am very impressed.
the coolest thing ever is the BRUDER camper RV a fully rugged camper that is litteraly able to go everywhere your offroad vehicle goes nothing even clomes close to it.
Thanks, Kyle for a wonderful tour and thanks to the Lightship team. What a wonderful camper. The design features go on and on to anyone's heart's delight. Super job.
I love the concept of using this as supplemental power at home because that is where it probably will be most of the time. I'm in the planning phase of adding around 3kw of solar and 30kwh of battery to our travel trailer to gain some charge for our R1S at camp, and also pull power from for the rest of the year at home. Mine won't have a drive axle but will at least act as an emergency level 2 charger when trying to stretch between fast chargers!
The Idea of an EV-optimized camper is great. I`m impressed how much ev innovations get into it. The colours inside are not my favour but thats individual. Thanks for showing us this great product. Many greets from Germany
Best use of this "RV" is connected to an offroad and overland ICE vehicle. I imagined a battery propelled trailer for offroad use a few years ago. Great to see one near market. This one is over the top. They should get with Patriot or similar offroad trailer company and add the propel tech to an existing offroad trailer. Gold mine.
The RV industry is in a real turmoil at the moment, because of the new California requirements on large diesel vehicle platforms. The thoughtfullness of their design with this trailer is amazing.
And the hubbub is over on very small minority of diesel commercial trucks that chose not to meet pollution standards. Given that the individual commercial truck drives more miles and has much looser standards than imposed on passenger cars, no sympathy here.
@@linusa2996There are some but this was designed to automotive standards and principles which, if you’ve ever seen a standard RV that’s been involved in a crash or a strong storm, may realize is a good thing!
The one thing this could do and that is the limitation of the trucks mostly, and not the this trailer, the trucks should be able to do pass through charging. Imagine at a campsite, there are only 3-4 outlets, with only one of them usually being 240V 30/50/20 amps. I plug my truck/SUV into that outlet, and using the outlet that the electric trucks have in their bed, I plug the trailer too. So, when the trailer is being charged, the truck gets the excess amount after subtracting what the truck bed outlet sends to the trailer. Once the trailer is charged, the truck gets the full power. So, by the time you are leaving the campsite, you can have nearly 300kWh of energy (trailer + SilveradoEV for comparison sake).
I like your questions to really dive in.. as someone who wants an rv - this is amazing. and being that you don't half to have the electric car to enjoy this is also cool. I can't wait to see more in use videos of this. keep up the fun and lookin forward to what comes next. cheers.
So many resources embedded in a product that most likely will get used a few times a year. It's mostly wasteful. If the country agrees to a standard swappable battery pack system, I might change my opinion.
Wow, I'm impressed how much of a legit operation they have going. Definitely got some good investment money to startup with. Lets leave one in the WA coast rain forest in the rain and properly long term water test it.
I live in Grays Harbor, Washington. That would be a torture test for sure, not much solar year round. I keep my Winnebago TT in a covered storage since new.
I think I would have opted to reverse the bathroom and sun room placement so that the bathroom is at the front of the trailer and the the viewing room at the rear, the reason would be to avoid rock chips at the windows, even if they don't crack polycarbonate, it can certainly be scratched and scuffed over time. Love the multi-functionality of the trailer, I wasn't even thinking about the home backup potential, would be great for disaster relief
For the drawers and cabinets, I'd defiantly take a look at the push button stuff on the high end yachts in their kitchens, would make a lot of sense for a trailer and I can't imagine the hardware costs that much.
@@dtallornothing - "High End"... "Yacht" and "I can't imagine" - regarding costs seems a leap of faith, lol.. (Probably the actual manufacturring costs aren't all that high once one is set up to do the volumes, BUT the licensing, that is the kicker - someone has to pay for( the mansion in Bermuda / Barbados ) and the holding company who owns the designs, run the sweat shop etc......)
I wouldn’t worry so much about rock chips in the front. It’s misleading to imagine it rolling down the road in camp mode (extended mode) like this. The tongue box at the front covers almost all of the front windows when it’s moving and in the retracted road mode.
I hope Tesla and other truck manufacturers enable power exporting at the same time as importing. That way, if you can’t connect both the truck and the camper to DC fast chargers at the same time, at least you can connect the trailer to the power outlet on the truck and get about 7.7. kW into the camper while charging the truck.
- yep my diesel "UTE" does all that too - sure there is only a modest battery on board and modest solar, but we can send 300AMPS wherever else it is needed. (It isn't rocket surgery) - though I may well be a brain Engineer.. jk.
@@dalececil7527 they already do this. We literally charged a Chevy Bolt the other day from the 30 amp outlet in the bed of our F150 lightning while fast charging the Lightning at Tesla Supercharger. (The bolt was unable to charge on the supercharger for some reason)
@@dalececil7527 it won't likely be fixed on CT anytime soon. The way Tesla designed it makes it so the inverter and charging pins can't be connected at the same time. They would have to re-engineer the whole way the system works.
I called for these many years ago when the company Dana Axle was showing bolt on e-axles. Integrating to trailers was the next best thing to extend traction and battery capacity to an ev, hybrid or even a gas tow vehicle.
I suggest using electrically powered Cali-font/s for 'on-demand' hot water. Big energy savings would ensue for longer-term camping outdoors and no hot-water reservoir needed. Beautiful job Lightship guys and gals. Best of fortunes with the production launch folks.
Maybe I missed it but one of my main curiosities is how it receives signaling for it’s propulsion. He mentioned standard 7-pin connector and the brake wire but nothing about how it knows how much to assist the towing vehicle.
I’m guessing it’s constant propulsion that you set the output of the tires on the trailer. Then when it receives the brake signal it disengages that motor.
So many questions…. But first, glad they got rid of the pink fabric inside on the seats. 1) make it 4 season 2) how is the surround seam sealed when the top is extended? 3) is there any outdoor storage? Otherwise, love it and excited about its future. 👍
The only concern I saw was whether the seals would grab dirt, rocks, etc. and scrape the paint as it opens and closes, could see that being an issue if the tolerances are tight enough.
I absolutely LOVE this towable trailer. Three comments, (1) It looks like there is a microwave in the kitchen. That's great, but much better would be a combination microwave and convection oven. (2) I personally would not want this option, but I bet many customers would want some kind of on-board natural gas system for outdoor grilling. (3) I think the size of this particular trailer will be SUPER popular. However, I would love one that is only about 1/3rd the size for my Model Y. I realize the company is going to focus on getting this one out and in full production before considering a different sized trailer. I just thought I would give you my 2-cents regarding the fact that there is probably a market for a smaller version as well. All the best.
A horse trailer with the electric drive would be so amazing. Start integrating that with an EV truck, and you could offer a level of safety for the horses like never before.
For ANY TRAILER - an - e-axle from an E-T (truck) manufacturer and an upgrade in the electric braking controller (call it a go-nogo control unit, or a stop and go control Unit (S&GCU -TM - or S&GPU)) - it "only" needs a load cell on the drawbar - or an overrun brake type system with pressure sensor) for an e-assist algorithm to be integrated in to the drive unit (modern brake controllers already have accelerometers in them for automatic emergency braking -breakaway braking is of course standard in an advanced system.. Of course the "only" bit negates idiotic IP laws where some artist claims priority on that is so simple most engineers in the space have though tit up before breakfast on their first brainstorm (where no market exists the typical practical engineer moves on, another Trevor Milton will come along and do an IP raise a billion$$$ and take everyone for a ride..
I was thinking the same re the E-axle and battery for our old vintage trailer though the frame would need some beefing up…could be a great addition for you guys to figure out!😊
Curious if they have looked at Aptera solar! Their roof solar sounds like what Aptera is offering the rv industry. Great video showing where the rv industry can progress to. Young innovators with vision!
I’m a reservation holder, but the production intent version has me pretty bummed. The first reason is the price. The list price since their debut was $151,000 for the big battery version. I knew that would likely increase (as an early Rivian adopter, I know all about price increases), but I thought maybe $175-185k, not $250k. That’s a 65% swing. The other major problem is the weight. They promoted the weight at 7,500lbs fully loaded with water and gear. Now it’s showing at 8,300 lbs. That means my 7,700lb R1S can’t tow it. I have no plans on replacing it anytime soon, so I’m SOL based solely on weight. The lower Terros and Panos trims are less money and less weight, but don’t have the range and battery capacity that made it so enticing in the first place. I’ll wait and see how it shakes out with deliveries, but now I’m a sad guy.
Unbelievable, it is the same thing with me. I can’t park truck in my garage and the best solution was R 1S. I hope the self propulsion of the trailer can nominally lower the rating of the towing vehicle. Also I was very high on electro-chromatic windows that was originally pitched but replaced just with shades. Solar panels are down from 3kw to 1.8kw. Price wise Atmos version is close to the promised price. Hopefully on that version they offer nicer colors as well. Otherwise Peble doesn’t look too bad either. I’ll keep my reservation until I see Atmos version.
@@1986mscott I get it, but it seems you adopted too early. I’d say in a decade you’d be able to get what you need. Right now, the limitations brought on by weight/lack of range capacity to towing ability makes no sense. Too early to buy.
@@MasterMoralsOnly it just means I have to settle for a competitor. I think the AE.1 has the best layout for my use case, and it’s just barely above the weight. I’ll likely switch my reservation to a Pebble Flow. It’s not nearly as feature packed, less energy/solar etc, but it is comfortably within the weight limits, and the price is significantly better too. And buying a truck isn’t the solution. The AE.1 was pitched as compatible with my life, then the production version came out and that was no longer the case.
I just wonder what a catastrophic tire blow out looks like. last blow out we had on our toy hauler took out the fiber glass side and punched a hole through the floor. Caused a decent repair and cost to fix. We ended up fabricating inner tire liners out of metal and bolting them into the trailer frame to prevent this from happening again (1/4 steel bolted / removable).
3 mins in and I already want a version that will work with gas trucks. That battery pack and motor could help assist a gas powered truck to extend the towing range. This would also be perfect behind the upcoming Ram charger as it has its own generator range extender to recharge the trucks battery and it could potentially recharge this trailer separately.
This will work with a gas truck. The electric assist doesn't require an EV to function, the trailer doesn't 'talk' to the tow vehicle, it just knows it's being towed and applies assistance.. The focus on EV usage is because of the hit EVs take when towing. Take a look at Range Energy; they're developing an electrically powered trailer for trucking, it works with any truck. The logic of how the drive system works would be similar with the Lightship.
I have a 30' Winnebago TT to compare this EV to. The obvious thing is the Hi/Lo design limits cabinets, closets, etc. Not much hanging clothes space? Ours is a rear kitchen, front bedroom. I like the tech features but that comes at a steep price. Mine brand new was under $40k. Looking forward to testing these in the real world.
As a early Lightship reservation holder this was exactly the kind of overview I wanted to see. The only question I have is what to pull it with. Currently I'm thinking Scout Traveller but the Terra might be a better option. Of course Rivian and Cybertruck are possabilities. Makes stupid big battery GM's unnecessary IMHO
I would rather pay for the big battery once on the truck than pay multiple times for battery on every trailer we use. There is, an enclosed trailer for gear. A float for skidsteers and tractors. A dump trailer. The boat hauler. And a camper trailer.
37:05 there is a transfer case convertion kit for the mercedes sprinter and it drastically improves its offroad capabilities so that it can to places your ev truck will never reach.
I see one huge problem and a lot of broken glass in the future from rocks being kicked up from the rear tires once it is placed in travel mode and the glass is lower down
Please explain the physics of the covered tires on the trailer, kicking up a rock and somehow going out and then back in towards the side glass of the trailer??????
I want one! I recognize it's price is significant but like they said it has a lot more high-end things going on in it than a typical RV. This video didn't get into the details of the chassis and how much like an automobile it is built rather than a traditional RV so assuming that it is built more like an automobile than it makes more sense that it is so expensive. I retrofitted my travel trailer RV with solar panels and all electric appliances and we are loving it, but it looks outdated compared to this amazing RV! I'm also excited that this product is hitting the market so that hopefully in a number of years it will be cheaper and/or I can buy a used one.
I think a good competition or vehicle test would be a towing test. I always guessed towing in the mountains with all of the steep inclines/declines would be impractical for an EV, but maybe with an integrated battery pack it is more supportable to get decent range. Having seen some vehicles can't handle steep inclines at all, it seems like a great challenge for the channel to do some max towing competitions. I couldn't imagine doing a tow in the mountains of Pennsylvania or California with an EV. Range must drop to 60 to 100 miles.
Out of Spec did a towing test through the Rocky Mountains and the Silverado shined from their performance! Look through their videos and watch what they did to test an electric pickup towing a trailer with a vehicle on it.
Most RV's are built with really poor quality; an RV typically needs to be relatively light, but also needs to be 'earthquake' proof to withstand the roughness of the road, while not costing a million dollars... You can't get cheap, light, and strong all at once. But a self-propelled RV could feasibly be built better and stronger since the added weight can be more easily managed since the trailer has its own drivetrain. I love this idea.
Broomfield, Colorado. 7,000 pounds empty. So no way to tow this with my Model Y. But the good news: I have a 12-foot box trailer and at highway speeds it trashes my range (driving up and down the Front Range, past Broomfield), and I've wondered if it's practical to put a boost motor into my trailer. Lightship proves that it is.
I am 100% on board with alternative energy solutions. However, the average consumer is not going to pay 250k for a trailer that has to be charged every 2-300 miles. How many charging stations are there in the remote camping sites? Everything around this concept sounds good until you think about taking a summer trip across country visiting the best parks and off grid camp sites. Finding charging stops, dropping the trailer, connecting the trailer, and charge times at each stop will drastically sour the experience. Its a beautiful and a solid idea that needs a much lower price and tech improvement. But not for the majority of average RV consumers.
This looks amazing and hopefully will lead to more affordable EV campers. I don’t want to be “that guy” but I think if I had that much to spend I would buy a cabin or two in remote areas. Maybe someone could make a more traditional RV with a built in Powerwall type battery just for powering the RV and provide emergency power for the truck without the motors and other high end options for under 100k.
Not what I was guessing when I clicked on the video. I thought it would be a very light weight, massively collapsible (to reduce frontal area when towing) RV. This is the opposite. Very cool idea though. I wish them luck!
Hi Kyle - I’m particularly excited about iONNA and your visit there for your “Coffee and Cars” event. Do you expect this to be a test of Alpitronic chargers, or an actual test of *iONNA*? Meaning, will you be able to test the iONNA connection in each of the 8 automaker’s apps to allow for charging? Will Plug & Charge be working? Will you be able to test out how quickly/easily a BMW, GM, KIA, Honda, etc pull up, plug-in and start charging? If this is just using a credit card swiper, or pushing a button on the charger display to activate a charge, then the test is really just testing Alpitronic hardware. They key for me, if if you guys are able to test the “iONNA Experience” from at least one of each of the 8 automaker’s EV’s using IN-CAR activation and/or Plug & Charge. I REALLY want to know how quickly a BMW or a GM car can pull up, plug in, and handshake, and start charging! I am looking very forward to your tests next week.
Also a big advantage is that the battery in the camper can also be used for ac and heat usage while not needing to connect to a outlet. This is so nice
- ha ha, it will need recharging when the destination is reached first- lots of solar collection is useful.
@@MarsPLAYStudio yes, you can do a lot with a big battery pack. The question is for how long.
@@kadmow it has 1800w of solar panels on the roof, so it will charge while you're driving. I have an RV with 2700w of solar on the roof and a much smaller pack. I keep my AC at 70 degrees 24/7 in the Nevada desert and never have to charge, my only limiting factor is capacity for overcast days. I over produce with my array on my roof, so if I expand my pack I could live in my RV 365 days a year. If you use a heatpump like they (and I) do, you can easily maintain comfortable temperatures for 150-200watts. The old rooftop ACs on RVs chug power, like 1000-2000watts. Modern minisplits are 4-5x as efficient easily.
@@Steve-qn8gn Indefinitely if you are even remotely careful with your power usage. People in the RV community figured out a long time ago that you have a big flat roof, so cover it in solar. I slapped 5x 550w residential panels on my 22ft class A RV, and I have not run my genny in a long long time. Just a trip to Oregon when it rained for the ENTIRE TRIP. Even then, my pack was fully charged in 4 hours of generator usage.
You don't just get rid of the generator if you plan on boondocking, it's all about layers of power. The genny is a backup to the solar charging, my RV already had it, why would I get rid of it?
@@meikgeik to be clear, the battery pack is going to be close to spent when you arrive because it’s been assisting during travel. The solar panels will take a long time to charge a pack like that. The truck should be feeding power too, no one mentioned that is happening so I have to believe it doesn’t. No way your only pulling 200 watts heating and cooling that trailer.
Absolutely in love with this thing. But sometimes with love comes heartbreak, when it was mentioned that it’s a 3 season camper 😭. My primary use case for an RV is ski trips. Looking forward to seeing this company grow, maybe bring out a smaller model
I got up at Mammoth couple weeks ago day before the huge snow storm and saw this huge 30ft rv trying to camp off the road in the snow. He got stuck and had to get towed out. 😂
Vans or other 4wd are best for skiing trips IMO.
I wonder if you could use a fish tank heater in your fresh water tank to keep it from freezing.
Yeah, I was interested until the 3 season part. Winter camping is part of my use case. Bummer. Hopefully they have a 4 season version down the road.
@psychocinology as long as the water pipes are in the living area all you got to do is heat the tanks.
@@Gary-ee3kq Sorry, but this thing is a glorified (not in a bad way) Hi-Lo trailer or Alaskan camper. You will never be able to keep up with the heat loss through these seals. Love the concept though.
This thing is insane! With the price it should be though, lol. They should be super proud of the engineering in this thing.
Honestly compare it to almost any other RV of this size or even some custom rv van builds and the price becomes an incredibly good value proposition. Hell at overland last year, a number of the van builds I saw were upwards of $200k
Boom!
@@rayman301030 For that price I would rather get an Airstream for that price. You get an aerodynamic design and quality all in a 4 season capable package. In comparison it is a terrible package considering how well Airstreams hold their value.
37:22 My preferred RV form factor is a truck camper and the only 2 manufacturers I would consider are #1 Northern Lite and #2 Bigfoot. Would love for Lightship to come up with a truck camper version, call it the Light Pod or something. Slide down for aero, slide up for camp mode.
I laughed at the ad at 1:35. Two ladies holding their charging handles and talking. What the heck do they think? That I hold the handle all this time when the car is charging. LOL. Eaton, please.
I didn't notice until I saw your comment... That is gold.
@@goldreverre They look like two guys talking at the urinals.
They were holding the charging handles as if charging was going to be as fast as filling a gas tank.
@@QualityFrogBSI definitely don't hold the gas pump either lol
This is Kyle at his best. It is great he has an engineer as the cofounder to talk to. We are getting a ton of great info.
@@RegularDudeDYI is it? I thought he interrupted ALOT
He can't help interrupting, it's part and parcel of being on the spectrum.
Wonderful design! I like the poop tube design, especially. I rebuilt a 33' 1972 Streamline and towed it about 6000 miles before selling. The road is a dirty, bumpy, dangerous environment. I'd worry about all that glass/polycarbonate. I'd also worry about all the wiring, and the liquid cooling system. That's a LOT of complications.
Exactly, more complications equals more points of failure.
@@infor-qx2zl that is the life of an EV owner
Couple points. That's super cool with advanced tech for sure, but at $250k you really, really have to want it. Relative to the alternative this is 8x-10x more expensive than a normal 26ft travel trailer with slides, awning, full size fridge, TV, etc. I mean you can get yourself a pretty nice used 40' diesel pusher at that price. I'm sure it'd kill the aero, but I've never see a travel trailer going down the road without bikes and other crap attached to the bumper (hitch) on the trailer.
IMHO the coolest part is the total power integration: Traction, HVAC, Solar, Charging, Export. It's mind blowing that the RV industry doesn't have any of this, especially in the $1m+ category. I don't even think I've seen simple hybrid power. Their idea of "integration" is using the same diesel tank for the engine, generator, and hot water heater.
I couldn't agree more on AC (instead of DC) power export. IMHO....DC doesn't make sense even (I'd say especially) if one already has solar because we already have purchased inverters sized to our total panel capacity. There is no extra inverter capacity (everybody clips) until it's dark. Then consider the MPPTs are typically sized for
You could buy the most savage AIRSTREAM they make today for the cost of this thing and it would last for like 60 years. This thing has the lifespan of your electric vehicle.
When I saw him describing it, in my head I thought "Holy crap! This thing is gonna cost $80,000!" (thinking that was a large number) Apparently I wasnt close.
@@natehill806980k is like a mid-trim Grand Cherokee.
Can you imagine how much the battery would cost to replace. The electric cars are over 20,000. Way too expensive.
@ch784 that’s only because dealers insist on replacing an entire battery pack even if only a single cell needs replacing. It’s no different than a dealer trying to replace an entire engine or transmission when a repair shop could fix it. There are more and more independent shops doing battery service, and it doesn’t cost a fraction of the dealer markup.
40:38 Okay hell yeah brother, stinky slinky is definitely a problem that needed to be solved. Absolutely love that. Also V2L is so legit. I am very impressed.
"pull it out when it's time to party" is my favorite quote!
This is the coolest thing ever. I could definitely live in this full time. Hopefully they can get the price down to the 100k-120k range in the future.
That is coming in 2026 and 2027 timeframe
the coolest thing ever is the BRUDER camper RV a fully rugged camper that is litteraly able to go everywhere your offroad vehicle goes nothing even clomes close to it.
Like the pebble flow
Thanks, Kyle for a wonderful tour and thanks to the Lightship team. What a wonderful camper. The design features go on and on to anyone's heart's delight. Super job.
It's amazing how fast and far Lightship has come in the past year. Great video great job to Lightship!
I love the concept of using this as supplemental power at home because that is where it probably will be most of the time. I'm in the planning phase of adding around 3kw of solar and 30kwh of battery to our travel trailer to gain some charge for our R1S at camp, and also pull power from for the rest of the year at home. Mine won't have a drive axle but will at least act as an emergency level 2 charger when trying to stretch between fast chargers!
Thats a nice idea. Also 3kw solar is already enough for some low amperage L2 charging
We do that with our fully electric RV - has 900w solar and 680ah house battery. Acts as EV charging station at home.
In use since 2018.
@@badchefi - what RV is that?
@ Maxus EV80 body by Kea.
The Idea of an EV-optimized camper is great. I`m impressed how much ev innovations get into it. The colours inside are not my favour but thats individual. Thanks for showing us this great product. Many greets from Germany
Thanks so much to Kyle and the team for doing such a beautiful, thorough tour with Ben!
I don't know much about camping, but this is an astounding product that I'm sure was an astounding amount of work.
The Lightship team seem to have addressed all the needs of their target customers…. And built a quality product for 3 season camping. Very impressive
Still trying to get over the pop-up camper for a quarter million dollars. If you’ve got the money, sure, but this thing has a very limited lifespan.
Super cool !! The charging area door cover should open "up" instead of down.
Best use of this "RV" is connected to an offroad and overland ICE vehicle.
I imagined a battery propelled trailer for offroad use a few years ago.
Great to see one near market.
This one is over the top.
They should get with Patriot or similar offroad trailer company and add the propel tech to an existing offroad trailer.
Gold mine.
Awesome! 😍😍😍😍 Here in Spain we say something like "money doesn't give you happiness, but, boy, it helps!" 😂😂😂😂😂
The RV industry is in a real turmoil at the moment, because of the new California requirements on large diesel vehicle platforms. The thoughtfullness of their design with this trailer is amazing.
And the hubbub is over on very small minority of diesel commercial trucks that chose not to meet pollution standards. Given that the individual commercial truck drives more miles and has much looser standards than imposed on passenger cars, no sympathy here.
Buy used ,i tow my caravan camper with 2003 diesel happily .And that generation dont have sht like DPF and stuff that kills diesel engines
@@dzonikgPlease explain how a DPF kills a diesel engine.
@@johnarnold6847 except they have mandated absurd rules down to the avg person. Communism at its finest.
The team that designed that trailer has some ex-Rivian engineers in it.
Were there trailer or rv engineers?
@@linusa2996trailer / camper “engineers” is the correct format for the majority of companies.
@@linusa2996There are some but this was designed to automotive standards and principles which, if you’ve ever seen a standard RV that’s been involved in a crash or a strong storm, may realize is a good thing!
And several Tesla ex-engineers.
@@rayman301030 lol ok, no evidence of either being true.
Awesome video! Thanks again for covering class leaders in the EV industry!
Very great engineering and product overall...looking forward to seeing them out there and being enjoyed.
The one thing this could do and that is the limitation of the trucks mostly, and not the this trailer, the trucks should be able to do pass through charging. Imagine at a campsite, there are only 3-4 outlets, with only one of them usually being 240V 30/50/20 amps. I plug my truck/SUV into that outlet, and using the outlet that the electric trucks have in their bed, I plug the trailer too. So, when the trailer is being charged, the truck gets the excess amount after subtracting what the truck bed outlet sends to the trailer. Once the trailer is charged, the truck gets the full power. So, by the time you are leaving the campsite, you can have nearly 300kWh of energy (trailer + SilveradoEV for comparison sake).
After having had multiple pop up campers in my life, this is the dream right here.
Round/radius edges of metal pull-out draws and cabinet doors. Kids at eye level to metal sharp edges.
So stoked this is actually happening!
Thank you! I've seen quick reviews of this thing, but I'm really glad y'all gave it the Out of Spec Treatment.
I like your questions to really dive in.. as someone who wants an rv - this is amazing. and being that you don't half to have the electric car to enjoy this is also cool. I can't wait to see more in use videos of this. keep up the fun and lookin forward to what comes next. cheers.
I look forward to a smaller, more affordable trailer like this. A single-axle 18 footer that sleeps two would be sweet.
this was an epic video and totally agree this is where the industry should be heading...... great job and great innovations......
Thing is sick. Bravo to all involved. Jel
So dope! It would look great behind my R1T!!!
Looks so slick when lowered 😯
Looks like a great place to relax while charging
Looks awesome I would like a cheaper version. But where is the audio and video for entertainment. No tv no radio
This is awesome!! I’d love to visit and check it out in person, finally proper engineers with good product vision working on RV
The idea of a self-propelling camper trailer is brilliant!
So many resources embedded in a product that most likely will get used a few times a year. It's mostly wasteful. If the country agrees to a standard swappable battery pack system, I might change my opinion.
What an outstanding camper!
Wow, I'm impressed how much of a legit operation they have going. Definitely got some good investment money to startup with. Lets leave one in the WA coast rain forest in the rain and properly long term water test it.
I live in Grays Harbor, Washington. That would be a torture test for sure, not much solar year round. I keep my Winnebago TT in a covered storage since new.
I think I would have opted to reverse the bathroom and sun room placement so that the bathroom is at the front of the trailer and the the viewing room at the rear, the reason would be to avoid rock chips at the windows, even if they don't crack polycarbonate, it can certainly be scratched and scuffed over time.
Love the multi-functionality of the trailer, I wasn't even thinking about the home backup potential, would be great for disaster relief
For the drawers and cabinets, I'd defiantly take a look at the push button stuff on the high end yachts in their kitchens, would make a lot of sense for a trailer and I can't imagine the hardware costs that much.
@@dtallornothing - "High End"... "Yacht" and "I can't imagine" - regarding costs seems a leap of faith, lol..
(Probably the actual manufacturring costs aren't all that high once one is set up to do the volumes, BUT the licensing, that is the kicker - someone has to pay for( the mansion in Bermuda / Barbados ) and the holding company who owns the designs, run the sweat shop etc......)
I wouldn’t worry so much about rock chips in the front. It’s misleading to imagine it rolling down the road in camp mode (extended mode) like this. The tongue box at the front covers almost all of the front windows when it’s moving and in the retracted road mode.
@@rayman301030 Except those side parts where tires from the truck are exactly in front of throwing rocks into the back
@@darekmistrz4364 mudflaps? 😆
Thank you so much for this! I love the Lightship!
will buy one of these after the 90% depreciation. very nice
I hope Tesla and other truck manufacturers enable power exporting at the same time as importing. That way, if you can’t connect both the truck and the camper to DC fast chargers at the same time, at least you can connect the trailer to the power outlet on the truck and get about 7.7. kW into the camper while charging the truck.
- yep my diesel "UTE" does all that too - sure there is only a modest battery on board and modest solar, but we can send 300AMPS wherever else it is needed. (It isn't rocket surgery) - though I may well be a brain Engineer.. jk.
Assuming you can park at the charger with the trailer attached.
@@dalececil7527 they already do this. We literally charged a Chevy Bolt the other day from the 30 amp outlet in the bed of our F150 lightning while fast charging the Lightning at Tesla Supercharger. (The bolt was unable to charge on the supercharger for some reason)
@@JeremyAkersInAustin good to know. I saw one TH-cam try it with a cybertruck and it didn’t work. Hopefully that’s been fixed on that vehicle.
@@dalececil7527 it won't likely be fixed on CT anytime soon. The way Tesla designed it makes it so the inverter and charging pins can't be connected at the same time. They would have to re-engineer the whole way the system works.
Dont worry Kyle will get one he's one of the "Golden Children"
The exterior when up reminds me of a San Francisco street car…. really cool…
I called for these many years ago when the company Dana Axle was showing bolt on e-axles. Integrating to trailers was the next best thing to extend traction and battery capacity to an ev, hybrid or even a gas tow vehicle.
I suggest using electrically powered Cali-font/s for 'on-demand' hot water. Big energy savings would ensue for longer-term camping outdoors and no hot-water reservoir needed.
Beautiful job Lightship guys and gals. Best of fortunes with the production launch folks.
I had this idea of a powered trailer 10 years ago but I ran into a hitch.
Maybe I missed it but one of my main curiosities is how it receives signaling for it’s propulsion. He mentioned standard 7-pin connector and the brake wire but nothing about how it knows how much to assist the towing vehicle.
I’m guessing it’s constant propulsion that you set the output of the tires on the trailer. Then when it receives the brake signal it disengages that motor.
So many questions…. But first, glad they got rid of the pink fabric inside on the seats.
1) make it 4 season
2) how is the surround seam sealed when the top is extended?
3) is there any outdoor storage?
Otherwise, love it and excited about its future. 👍
The only concern I saw was whether the seals would grab dirt, rocks, etc. and scrape the paint as it opens and closes, could see that being an issue if the tolerances are tight enough.
I absolutely LOVE this towable trailer. Three comments,
(1) It looks like there is a microwave in the kitchen. That's great, but much better would be a combination microwave and convection oven.
(2) I personally would not want this option, but I bet many customers would want some kind of on-board natural gas system for outdoor grilling.
(3) I think the size of this particular trailer will be SUPER popular. However, I would love one that is only about 1/3rd the size for my Model Y. I realize the company is going to focus on getting this one out and in full production before considering a different sized trailer. I just thought I would give you my 2-cents regarding the fact that there is probably a market for a smaller version as well.
All the best.
For #1, he did mention it was a combo microwave/convection oven.
A horse trailer with the electric drive would be so amazing. Start integrating that with an EV truck, and you could offer a level of safety for the horses like never before.
For ANY TRAILER - an - e-axle from an E-T (truck) manufacturer and an upgrade in the electric braking controller (call it a go-nogo control unit, or a stop and go control Unit (S&GCU -TM - or S&GPU)) - it "only" needs a load cell on the drawbar - or an overrun brake type system with pressure sensor) for an e-assist algorithm to be integrated in to the drive unit (modern brake controllers already have accelerometers in them for automatic emergency braking -breakaway braking is of course standard in an advanced system..
Of course the "only" bit negates idiotic IP laws where some artist claims priority on that is so simple most engineers in the space have though tit up before breakfast on their first brainstorm (where no market exists the typical practical engineer moves on, another Trevor Milton will come along and do an IP raise a billion$$$ and take everyone for a ride..
I was thinking the same re the E-axle and battery for our old vintage trailer though the frame would need some beefing up…could be a great addition for you guys to figure out!😊
Owning horses is expensive enough without that.
I have been waiting for you to cover this!!
Really beautiful. Looks like a Star Wars set on the interior.
Curious if they have looked at Aptera solar! Their roof solar sounds like what Aptera is offering the rv industry. Great video showing where the rv industry can progress to. Young innovators with vision!
Yes, I wondered the same thing. When does Atera make the cut? They are also a company with production intent vehicles and almost ready to launch.
The vaporware Aptera?
- the Aptera can tow this they can both self charge on the way...
This and the GMC Denali electric ⚡️ truck and you are good to go (big battery pack of course)
- just take along the Diesel powered EV support truck and it will have unlimited range.
I’m a reservation holder, but the production intent version has me pretty bummed.
The first reason is the price. The list price since their debut was $151,000 for the big battery version. I knew that would likely increase (as an early Rivian adopter, I know all about price increases), but I thought maybe $175-185k, not $250k. That’s a 65% swing.
The other major problem is the weight. They promoted the weight at 7,500lbs fully loaded with water and gear. Now it’s showing at 8,300 lbs. That means my 7,700lb R1S can’t tow it. I have no plans on replacing it anytime soon, so I’m SOL based solely on weight.
The lower Terros and Panos trims are less money and less weight, but don’t have the range and battery capacity that made it so enticing in the first place.
I’ll wait and see how it shakes out with deliveries, but now I’m a sad guy.
Unbelievable, it is the same thing with me. I can’t park truck in my garage and the best solution was R 1S. I hope the self propulsion of the trailer can nominally lower the rating of the towing vehicle. Also I was very high on electro-chromatic windows that was originally pitched but replaced just with shades. Solar panels are down from 3kw to 1.8kw. Price wise Atmos version is close to the promised price. Hopefully on that version they offer nicer colors as well. Otherwise Peble doesn’t look too bad either. I’ll keep my reservation until I see Atmos version.
Get a truck.
Not everybody wants to drive a truck, hopefully Rivian recognizes the niche and raises towing weight on R1S at least on tri-motors or quad.
@@1986mscott I get it, but it seems you adopted too early. I’d say in a decade you’d be able to get what you need. Right now, the limitations brought on by weight/lack of range capacity to towing ability makes no sense. Too early to buy.
@@MasterMoralsOnly it just means I have to settle for a competitor. I think the AE.1 has the best layout for my use case, and it’s just barely above the weight. I’ll likely switch my reservation to a Pebble Flow. It’s not nearly as feature packed, less energy/solar etc, but it is comfortably within the weight limits, and the price is significantly better too.
And buying a truck isn’t the solution. The AE.1 was pitched as compatible with my life, then the production version came out and that was no longer the case.
I just wonder what a catastrophic tire blow out looks like.
last blow out we had on our toy hauler took out the fiber glass side and punched a hole through the floor. Caused a decent repair and cost to fix. We ended up fabricating inner tire liners out of metal and bolting them into the trailer frame to prevent this from happening again (1/4 steel bolted / removable).
I was looking at blowout safe run flats; on a 250k RV spending another $2k on would be a good idea.
This is super cool. I see this being very successful.
3 mins in and I already want a version that will work with gas trucks. That battery pack and motor could help assist a gas powered truck to extend the towing range. This would also be perfect behind the upcoming Ram charger as it has its own generator range extender to recharge the trucks battery and it could potentially recharge this trailer separately.
This will work with a gas truck. The electric assist doesn't require an EV to function, the trailer doesn't 'talk' to the tow vehicle, it just knows it's being towed and applies assistance.. The focus on EV usage is because of the hit EVs take when towing. Take a look at Range Energy; they're developing an electrically powered trailer for trucking, it works with any truck. The logic of how the drive system works would be similar with the Lightship.
Stupendous vehicle. Surprised that, with all those windows, there is none over the kitchen sink.
I have a 30' Winnebago TT to compare this EV to. The obvious thing is the Hi/Lo design limits cabinets, closets, etc. Not much hanging clothes space? Ours is a rear kitchen, front bedroom. I like the tech features but that comes at a steep price. Mine brand new was under $40k. Looking forward to testing these in the real world.
I ordered my Scouts.
This seems an obvious next choice.
Great design. Interior lighting is awesome. Sure to be a hit if they introduce regenerative braking as well.
It doesn't have regen? Useless.
Cool as heck!
One of these towed behind a Canoo would be even cooler. 😉
Glad to see Cricket is doing well.
Absolutely amazing I'm glad somebody finally did this just makes sense ❤👍👍👍
As a early Lightship reservation holder this was exactly the kind of overview I wanted to see. The only question I have is what to pull it with. Currently I'm thinking Scout Traveller but the Terra might be a better option. Of course Rivian and Cybertruck are possabilities. Makes stupid big battery GM's unnecessary IMHO
GM electric trucks are not stupid when they are superior in towing over all the competition!
I would rather pay for the big battery once on the truck than pay multiple times for battery on every trailer we use. There is, an enclosed trailer for gear. A float for skidsteers and tractors. A dump trailer. The boat hauler. And a camper trailer.
37:05 there is a transfer case convertion kit for the mercedes sprinter and it drastically improves its offroad capabilities so that it can to places your ev truck will never reach.
This is so cool. It's about time
Very cool. I wish existing RV manufacturers would integrate this technology into the industry. Didn't discuss TV locations options
Hmmm, building an RV outside of Oregon and indiana. The cost are going to be wild for part manufacturing. Bold move. Wish you all the best.
I also like the Pebbles electric travel trailer. They will be introducing their production intent trailer on January 6th!
The front switchback lounge had vibes of the observation cupola on the ISS.
That's a pretty decent tiny house on wheels right there!
I see one huge problem and a lot of broken glass in the future from rocks being kicked up from the rear tires once it is placed in travel mode and the glass is lower down
Please explain the physics of the covered tires on the trailer, kicking up a rock and somehow going out and then back in towards the side glass of the trailer??????
@@jeffjackson6358 I think they are talking about the rear truck tires not the trailer tires.
Dur!
I want one! I recognize it's price is significant but like they said it has a lot more high-end things going on in it than a typical RV. This video didn't get into the details of the chassis and how much like an automobile it is built rather than a traditional RV so assuming that it is built more like an automobile than it makes more sense that it is so expensive. I retrofitted my travel trailer RV with solar panels and all electric appliances and we are loving it, but it looks outdated compared to this amazing RV! I'm also excited that this product is hitting the market so that hopefully in a number of years it will be cheaper and/or I can buy a used one.
Awesome, love it. One suggestion. The shit shoot flap needs to fully open so people over 20 can see inside. Epic apart from that.
Things very cool!!! Thanks for reviewing
This is a very cool product, but at a quarter of a million...? Insane.
Awesome. One suggestion. Should have went for some electrochromic glass on those skylights.
That is freaking awesome!!
I think a good competition or vehicle test would be a towing test. I always guessed towing in the mountains with all of the steep inclines/declines would be impractical for an EV, but maybe with an integrated battery pack it is more supportable to get decent range. Having seen some vehicles can't handle steep inclines at all, it seems like a great challenge for the channel to do some max towing competitions. I couldn't imagine doing a tow in the mountains of Pennsylvania or California with an EV. Range must drop to 60 to 100 miles.
Out of Spec did a towing test through the Rocky Mountains and the Silverado shined from their performance! Look through their videos and watch what they did to test an electric pickup towing a trailer with a vehicle on it.
Love this! Sell a ton of those Lightships and drive that price down (please).
Kyle must be happy he wore his nice socks today.
Most RV's are built with really poor quality; an RV typically needs to be relatively light, but also needs to be 'earthquake' proof to withstand the roughness of the road, while not costing a million dollars... You can't get cheap, light, and strong all at once.
But a self-propelled RV could feasibly be built better and stronger since the added weight can be more easily managed since the trailer has its own drivetrain. I love this idea.
Broomfield, Colorado.
7,000 pounds empty. So no way to tow this with my Model Y.
But the good news: I have a 12-foot box trailer and at highway speeds it trashes my range (driving up and down the Front Range, past Broomfield), and I've wondered if it's practical to put a boost motor into my trailer. Lightship proves that it is.
a leasing program or rental would be nice. I'd totally rent it for summer months every year!
It would be cool to have a canopy that extends out the side as well, but I guess that is reserved for your overlander rig on your Rivian!
I am 100% on board with alternative energy solutions. However, the average consumer is not going to pay 250k for a trailer that has to be charged every 2-300 miles. How many charging stations are there in the remote camping sites? Everything around this concept sounds good until you think about taking a summer trip across country visiting the best parks and off grid camp sites. Finding charging stops, dropping the trailer, connecting the trailer, and charge times at each stop will drastically sour the experience. Its a beautiful and a solid idea that needs a much lower price and tech improvement. But not for the majority of average RV consumers.
This looks amazing and hopefully will lead to more affordable EV campers. I don’t want to be “that guy” but I think if I had that much to spend I would buy a cabin or two in remote areas.
Maybe someone could make a more traditional RV with a built in Powerwall type battery just for powering the RV and provide emergency power for the truck without the motors and other high end options for under 100k.
Looks great. I really like it. Just needs to shed about 2 tons. I would be great to see a much smaller simpler trailer.
I love this. I hope they succeed.
Not what I was guessing when I clicked on the video. I thought it would be a very light weight, massively collapsible (to reduce frontal area when towing) RV. This is the opposite. Very cool idea though. I wish them luck!
Hi Kyle - I’m particularly excited about iONNA and your visit there for your “Coffee and Cars” event. Do you expect this to be a test of Alpitronic chargers, or an actual test of *iONNA*? Meaning, will you be able to test the iONNA connection in each of the 8 automaker’s apps to allow for charging? Will Plug & Charge be working? Will you be able to test out how quickly/easily a BMW, GM, KIA, Honda, etc pull up, plug-in and start charging?
If this is just using a credit card swiper, or pushing a button on the charger display to activate a charge, then the test is really just testing Alpitronic hardware.
They key for me, if if you guys are able to test the “iONNA Experience” from at least one of each of the 8 automaker’s EV’s using IN-CAR activation and/or Plug & Charge.
I REALLY want to know how quickly a BMW or a GM car can pull up, plug in, and handshake, and start charging!
I am looking very forward to your tests next week.
The quiet HVAC alone is amazing. Most campers have terribly loud ceiling units.
The NEMA 14-50 plug isn't bi-directional? So no powering the trailer at a standard RV park plug?