That’s because an electric travel trailer isn’t just an Instagrammable tiny house on wheels. If they fulfill their pre-production promises, the RVs equipped with powerful batteries and solar panels will become mobile power plants, capable of operating off the grid for days or powering stationary homes during a blackout. Down the road, electric travel trailers could also supply power to the grid, helping utilities balance renewable energy production. (One hitch in that vision is the need to build out charging infrastructure at campgrounds.)
Lightship’s L1 Long Range travel trailer, for instance, boasts an 80 kilowatt-hour battery pack and a 3-kilowatt solar array integrated into its roof and awnings. “That’s approaching the amount of solar you put on your average house and six Tesla Powerwalls’ worth of energy,” says Lightship co-founder and chief executive officer Toby Kraus, referring to Tesla’s home battery system.
Towing a 7,500-pound travel trailer puts a serious dent in the fuel economy of a fossil fuel-powered vehicle and reduces the range of an electric pick-up truck or SUV. The 27-foot-long L1 eliminates that penalty by propelling itself with an electric drive motor. Its sleek shape further reduces drag as does a feature called “road mode.” When you’re ready to hit the highway, the upper half of the 10-foot-tall trailer lowers so its profile is a shade under 7 feet tall when towed. (In “camp mode,” the L1’s interior ceiling height is 7 feet 6 inches and the wraparound windows give the vehicle an airy vibe.)
“People buy trucks to do truck stuff and one of those top things is towing,” says Kraus.
Increasingly, those trucks and other tow vehicles are electric. About a third of RVers own an electric vehicle and half of EV owners plan to tow a travel trailer, according to the RV Industry Association (RVIA). Investors have taken note of that interest with Lightship having raised $27 million in funding while Pebble has secured $13.6 million.
Steve Krivolavek and his wife Katie Krivolavek have been towing an Airstream with their Model X since 2020. “Range loss is real,” says Steve. The Lincoln, Nebraska, couple have put $500 down to reserve an L1. “Having that battery pack to go off grid and not worry about power for a long time is huge,” he says.
“The RVs on the market today generally only get used two weeks out of the entire year, but we’ve designed this product so it can be used all the time,” says Yang, who founded Pebble and previously worked on autonomous driving systems at Cruise and Zoox. “When you’re parked at home, you can use it as a home office and for energy backup.”
Holding a iPad Mini tablet that comes with the RV, he calls up an app and the Pebble Flow purrs to life. Using the tablet as a remote control, he maneuvers the travel trailer around the tight confines of the driveway. With another swipe on the screen, metal legs descend from the Pebble Flow’s undercarriage to stabilize the travel trailer as steps to the door unfurl.
