The latest CC mag says there will be an all electric caravan (Explore Electric 546) at the Feb 2009 NEC show. It says you will always need an EHU for cooking and heating. Although not mentioned, I presume it has a leisure battery. My first doubt is that there is no gas backup for the fridge. May be fine when everything new, but what about when the battery fails to hold its charge? Then, if you go to France, there are a great many campsites which still provide only 6 amps of electricity.
I remember my dad fitting a 12v flourescent light and a 12v water pump in our Cavalier when I was about 4 (so 1974), our previous 'vans muct have been gas only! Times change.
------------- 2020 Volvo XC60 B5 R Design Geartronic / 2018 Swift Elegance 580
As a weight saving option its brilliant. No heavy gas cylinders for a start. You would of course need a guarantee of a 16amp supply for it to work correctly. I have often wondered why this has not been suggested before. As a concept it is well worth exploring (no pun intended!) As Bertie pointed out it would be a struggle in France and even more so in Italy where amapage can be as low as 3amp. It would depend on the ampage of the appliances like the water heater and the oven/hob.
But if you only intend using sites in the uk as many people do you can always find a site with EHU. Might mean booking sites in advance but how many people on here say they only use sites with EHU and hardly ever use their gas? Quite a few. I think a lot of newbies would prefer electric only and see gas as old fashioned, they want a caravan to be like home, things work with the flick of a switch
------------- Doing as little as possible for as much as possible...
Wouldn't do for me. Apart from resricting me to sites with 16 amp EHU, and no more rallying or simple sites, - what about all the sites I've been on where the electric has tripped for some reason and not come back on again for a few hours or more? Warmed up fridge and cooled down campers.
No thanks, I'll keep my gas options.
------------- Caz
If you can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, just keep going till you go round the bend.
agree caz, nice to have dual fuel in terms of water and space heating so if I can get a good ehu I will use it but prefer gas option for when I am at the racetrack
a lot of new vans have hobs with gas and electric now.all electric van then i think some sites would be off limits unless they had 16 amp.i would not buy one.it may well be fine all week and then another two vans plug into the post and it will trip off repeatedly.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
An electric only van will stop the owner from taking a significant part in one of the best reasons for camping / caravanning - rallies. Most rallies are in locations where the only unit(s) that have hook-up are the marshals.
Quote: Originally posted by Fat Belly on 24/12/2008
An electric only van will stop the owner from taking a significant part in one of the best reasons for camping / caravanning - rallies. Most rallies are in locations where the only unit(s) that have hook-up are the marshals.
good point did not think of that.
------------- the only silly question is the one you do not ask.
Prefer to cook on gas mind you, but sure I could cope, as we dont have an oven and hardly cook in the van anyway, use our camp stove most the time and cook outside!
David: The very nature of things like electric water heaters and cooking facilities demand adequate power, and I think anything less than a 10 amp EHU would be a problem. It might be possible to run off the leisure battery by means of an inverter, but I doubt that the charge capacity would be maintained. It would most likely need a very large capacity battery, and the weight would defeat the original concept of making the van light.
I think for us an all electric van would be a definite no no. It would restrict our holidays to EHU sites. We tend to use CL sites and not all have Hook-up.
Obviously camping sites never ever have power cuts or the mains tripping. if some site operators install metering, it will cost the owner of the electric caravan more than other patrons on the same site. Not for us and IMHO a reasonably stupid idea that could lead to the company suffering a financial loss.
It will leave the nice quiet sites free for me to enjoy !
I hope you are joking, Big Al. I have just posted on another thread about CC pitch fees. And one of my points is the one-upmanship attitude and losing the spirit of freedom that should be available to camping enthusiasts on the most moderate of incomes. I enjoy caravanning to be with others, not drive them away by giving the impression that I should be there and they should not.
Quote: Originally posted by bordercaz on 24/12/2008
Wouldn't do for me. Apart from resricting me to sites with 16 amp EHU, and no more rallying or simple sites, - what about all the sites I've been on where the electric has tripped for some reason and not come back on again for a few hours or more? Warmed up fridge and cooled down campers.
No thanks, I'll keep my gas options.
Actually most of you are talking nonsense here.
My van only has gas for cooking only and all the rest is run on 12v. (Weaco 12v compression fridge)
A 55w solar panel keeps the battery topped up and on a rally site, IE no EHU, the battery will power the fridge, lights and water pump for 4 or 5 days before it would be neccesary to further top it up either from the car or from an EHU.
With no maintainance required on the fridge and it reaching working temp in 10 minutes, we only need one small gas canister and an emergency one and so weight is kept to as minimum.
Indeed the main advantage of our set up is that we only require nornmal sites for using the CDP and Laundry Facilities once a week and the rest of the time we are independant of all sites.
However we can cook whereas those in this all elecrtric caravan cannot.
ALL ELECTRIC is a good idea as long as the ALL part is 12v.
Pretty useless if it is Mains in a country where the mains, on sites, is hardly what you would class as reliable.
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Topic: All electric caravan.
