Ben Parker, a former Tesla engineer who’s now leading a green recreational vehicles (RV) company, has broken new ground by creating the first-ever self-driven electric RV. This innovative vehicle can function seamlessly with both traditional gas-fueled SUVs or pickup trucks and electric vehicles (EVs) to enhance their total range, thus alleviating the widespread concern about “range anxiety.”
Typically, towing a travel trailer with a Tesla Model X leads to a decline in range of approximately 50-60%. Gas-powered trucks also experience a drop in fuel efficiency, with some calculations showing that an additional 100 pounds of weight can decrease fuel economy by 2%.
The CEO of Lightship, Ben Parker, previously an engineer for Tesla’s Model 3 battery, is behind this next-generation RV. It is equipped with an electric motor, an 80 kWh battery pack, and 3 kWh of solar panels on the trailer’s roof. Parker’s creation, named the Lightship L1, has been meticulously designed to function with both traditional gas-powered and electric towing vehicles, offering them “near zero-range loss.” Such state-of-the-art RVs could represent an immediate solution for those troubled by “range anxiety” when hauling trailers.
The starting price for this trailblazing trailer is $125,000, and manufacturing is set to commence in the latter half of 2024. Despite the RV industry’s current downturn following a historical surge during the Covid era and the rise in borrowing rates, the demand for this next-gen RV is being closely watched.
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