After helping launch the world’s first electric campervan at the NEC last October (2014) I finally got the chance to take it out and give it a right good thrashing!
Over the last 6 months, Fish Media has been working with a Derby based campervan conversion company – Hillside Leisure – to update their website and create new social media channels and I finally got the opportunity to test their exciting new development – a micro campervan conversion based on an electric Nissan e-NV200. Amazingly, even in the year 2015 it’s actually the FIRST commercially available electric campervan to buy in the World!
I must admit not knowing an awful lot about the #EV scene and was somewhat nervous about driving an electric vehicle for the first time. Milk float always sprung to mind whenever anyone mentioned an all electric drive-train and I wasn’t sure what sort of performance you can expect out of an electric motor. I’ll tell you now, it’s got bags of torque! and cutting to the chase, I buried my foot at the lights and it shot off like a rocket. It’s probably not the best way to preserve the battery, but it’s great to know that the power is available if you need it.
The burning question
One of the reasons for owning a campervan, is of course to drive, explore and camp overnight and I initially thought that an electric campervan wouldn’t really be able to provide the range required for this. However, after really getting down to the nity gritty of the vehicle I’ve realised that living in the middle of the UK is probably an IDEAL location for owning one. In the year, my family mostly use the campervan at weekends and use it to get away for a couple of nights. We rarely travel over 100 miles before we’re stopping for some sort of tea break, wee break or lunch so there’s no reason why the route couldn’t be plotted to stop at a fast charge station and plug in for half an hour. Half an hour on a fast charge port will get the battery up to 80% charged and there are charge stations dotted all over the UK on the major routes. The advertised range is up to 105 miles on a full charge, so even if you charge at home, stop once and then charge at the destination your’re looking at close to a 200 mile radius.
Distances from Middle Earth (The Midlands):
- Skegness = 94 miles
- Blackpool = 109 miles
- Bristol = 142 miles
- Norwich = 139 miles
- Oxford = 114 miles
So, having an EV charged at home ready to go and stopping to charge on route doesn’t actually seem such a daunting idea – especially when you throw in the fact that the Nissan dealer network offer FREE charging and charging at home can cost as little as 2p per mile. If you can cut nearly a hundred quid worth of fuel out of your weekend excursion, it’s got to worth considering? As a daily driver, well that’s a no-brainer – getting to work and back (9 miles each way for me) on a single charge would be a doddle and over a year that’s a mammoth saving. With zero road tax and loads of government incentives to go electric, now really is the time to consider swapping from diesel (not to mention the zero emissions).
I wouldn’t like to use it to take us on a Road Trip to the South Of France and back, but as a micro camper and day van it’s a serious consideration.
Beverley says
11th March 2017 at 6:56 amTHis looks really exciting!
Jean says
13th April 2017 at 6:24 pmIf one could be developed with a 3-way fridge and space heating for the living area then I would be buying one the next day! It may need an estate base to enlarge it to enable this, but more of us are looking to reduce our carbon footprint and be less polluting, so I hope there would be a market.
Rich says
20th April 2017 at 9:30 amHi Jean,
A 3 way fridge would be great, especially if it can be hooked up to the rear gas bottle. I have found the 12v compressor fridges to be excellent though – mine runs constantly with a solar panel on the campervan roof. I use an electric heater, but obviously only when on a campsite with electrics. Heating takes so much power from a battery so an externally vented gas one would be good 🙂
Cheers,
Richard
Jean says
20th April 2017 at 6:24 pmI hope a camper can be developed soon, with a little larger accommodation room than the Nissan EV 200, and space for a large enough gas bottle to make space heating affordable for off-grid times, as well as to power a 3-way fridge and the hob – there’d be a market I’m sure, and I’m very eager to reduce my climate-change and pollution ‘footprint’
Phil Drackley says
15th May 2017 at 10:16 pmI feel a three-way fridge would be a bad idea. Three-way fridges run on gas, mains electricity, or from the vehicle’s charging circuit while the engine is running. There is no running engine in an electric vehicle, therefore no charging circuit, so the fridge would be taking power from the vehicle’s battery, drastically reducing the range between charges. Of course, if a separate battery were provided for the fridge, that wouldn’t be an issue, but there would still be a problem with charging that battery between EHUs.
Rich says
16th May 2017 at 10:22 amHi Phil,
The campervan does have a split relay so when the starter battery is at 14volts after being charged by the dc-dc converter the charge moves over to the leisure battery to charge it while driving (even though it has no petrol engine). This particular electric campervan from Hillside Leisure also has a solar panel on the roof that runs directly to the leisure battery. The fridge in my campervan runs 24/7 on 12v with my 100w solar panel in summer.
Rich
Mr. Enver Overend says
15th May 2017 at 10:44 amHow long does this take to charge, & can it use an ordinary domestic 240v socket (if we drop by friends)? I like to crawl down remote coast & country roads, & go wild camping, but can’t imagine charging it anywhere nearby, or in most service areas as they do not cater for hybrid vehicles at all. Any backup system in case electrics fail?. Most insurances insist on a 2nd vehicle anyway, only using camper-vans for holidays, not for work or carrying things. Would it need a whole different toolkit, knowledge, & routing map to charge?
Rich says
15th May 2017 at 2:11 pmOn a fast charger at a service station it will charge to 80% in half an hour. But at home on a normal 240v wall socket you would be looking at over 12 hours. An electric campervan wouldn’t suit your wild camping needs – it becomes an option only if you can plug in on the campsite and at service stations.