r/EVCamping

GM Brightdrop Zevo 600 AWD electric stepvan⚡️🚐

A few weeks ago we rented (Outdoorsy) a 25' Flying Cloud in Denver and went camping west of Fort Collins. Our goal was to see if this is something we want to do more of and eventually own our own RV equipment. It was a really good experience and we learned a lot.

We went to three different campgrounds, each unique. State parks in the wilderness are clearly the superior experience if you're going to be in an official campground. We expected that going in. City campgrounds and commercial campgrounds seem generally unpleasant. We didn't take the trailer to offroad campgrounds, but we did explore in the truck and found places that I'm sure we could get a trailer to and be much happier for a week or two.

Having previously lived on a boat for four years, we were already familiar with tight spaces and small living. But a 25' Airstream is a whole new world compared to a 44' catamaran. It was also frustrating not having a bunch of personalizations, like hooks and containers for all the things we drop as soon as we walk inside. Or the "just right" comfortable place to sit and read or play with electronics inside ... or outside for that matter.

I did one fast charge while my wife provisioned on day one. Otherwise we slow charged at the campgrounds. Climbing 4000 feet over 95 miles only used about 70% of the battery, and that was by far our biggest energy day. If we were RVing for weeks or months at a time I don't think we'd ever want to do more than a couple hundred mile relocation, so that all makes sense to me and works out great. Otherwise towing with an 830 HP EV was incredible. I probably touched the physical brakes less than 10 times the whole week. Coming down the mountain on I-70 returning to Denver the truck did regen braking like a champ and charged the battery, and the trailer happily followed along with zero issues.

The main things we learned are, we don't hate it, and we'd want to do a lot of customization. Also, crowded campgrounds with close camp sites are awful. Hot and dry is awful, too!

I'd probably end up keeping propane for boondocking, but I really want to explore big ass batteries, inverter, and solar. That's what we did on the boat and easily lived without a generator or shore power for weeks at a time. We sometimes even ran an airconditioner a couple hours to cool the cabin before bedtime. It just doesn't make sense to me to go to such trouble to be in the wilderness and then fire up a noisy engine for hours at a time.

The Flying Cloud was nice, but I suspect we'd want a Globetrotter. I'm not sure we're "Classic" people, but my wife keeps buying lottery tickets so who knows. 25' was probably enough, but the counter space in the kitchen/galley is so tight. I've seen 30' Flying Clouds that have replaced the couch with storage and counter and that just seems amazing. Why doesn't Airstream make a model that's got proper counter space!?

Has anyone else transitioned from boat to Airstream? What recommendations do you have?

Is anyone else towing an Airstream with an EV (I'm aware of the various YouTubers)? What's been your experience with campground charging?

Has anyone converted their Airstream to all electric? Has it been successful, or problematic?

My wife and I got back from a roadtrip from Orange County, CA to Bryce and Zion national parks, in utah. Thats a 1000+ mile roadtrip, towing a 30 ft travel trailer, and dealing with 100 degree heat. Not to mention the significant elevation gain. 

We drove on day 1 from OC to the valley of fire state park in Nevada. We banked on a few charging stops on the way, planned with buffer and for pull thru chargers. Two main factors were the heat and the altitude climb. Barstow, CA was the first stop. Tesla has a pull thru here so this was easy. 

Next stop was Jean, NV. A very big Tesla charger, with  100 chargers and 2 pull thrus! Thanks Tesla. 

Those got us to the valley of fire state park, and by the time we reached there it was hot. 117deg hot. Im not gonna lie that I thought the truck might get a service warning, but thankfully the latest update had been applied to prevent over heating and we got there fine. The in cabin AC had definitely dialed back though to do its best to focus on the battery. It was definitely tough on the truck, but even with a diesel, that kind of heat is pretty grueling. We saw several trucks/trailers on the side of the road, and one on fire.

The truck probably spent the next hour at the campsite with the fan on high to try cool down. Putting it in the shade of the trailer helped. Once it was cooler, we put it on the 50A campsite to charge.

The next day we made the next leg to Bryce, UT. More climbing. More heat. That heat pump in the truck was certainly getting a workout. As a result of both the climb and the heat the range really sucked....0.7mi/kwh. No trip calculator can seem to accurately account for that.

We stopped in Mesquite, UT and used an Electrify America charger, parking on the back side of the charger so as not to block any stalls. One more charge stop after that and we made it to Bryce safely. Thats quite the climb....8000ft, in the heat.

What we discovered at Bryce, started to be a consistent pattern. If you ask whether you can charge from your campsite, quite often you're met with acceptance. Rubys RV park and campground is EV friendly so we charged off the 50A there. The trip down from Bryce to Zion was pretty uneventful, and we got there on one charge without issue.

It's interesting the difference in EV attitudes though. Next campsite was Zion river resort just out of Springdale. Not only does the campsite explicitly ban it (even when I asked to pay) but there is nothing in that entire town for EV charging.. So that means you're driving 25mi to the nearest Tesla charger on the I-15. Not great. 

On the way home we stopped one night through Vegas. Another great EV friendly campsite there called Oasis RV park...charged again off the campsite with their approval. Highly recommend it.

Overall, the truck did really great. Its really so effortless towing with this truck, its super stable, the super cruise with a trailer really takes the pressure off driving, and so long as you plan ahead, EV stops are very manageable. Loved it.

But make sure you are planning ahead. Heat and altitude definitely impact range, and there was a lot of climbing in this trip which brought the average to around 0.8 mi/kwh.

TLDR;
- Lariat ER (base)
- 2500 mi towing at .08 mi/kWh
- ~6.5k lbs, 11ft tall slightly wider than the truck
- ~34h drive (~18h charging)
- ~1500$ in fuel with Tesla subscription

Fun trip to the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Reserve. Long drive but the charging breaks up the monotony. No real problems however 18h of the drive it never got below 100F and the truck really struggled to stay cool, never overheated but rarely in the middle of the battery heat gauge.

Not really cheaper than gas and definitely not faster but totally worth the inconvenience for the massive convenience the lighting provides in normal usage.

Was able to charge up to 100% today to start the second drive off at full battery.