Photo voltaic and inexpensive lithium-ion batteries are ushering within the golden age of tenting and exploring together with your car.
We attended the California Tesla Takeover occasion this weekend in San Luis Obispo, California, as a standard citizen, not press. We had been blown away with the particular part of the occasion devoted to tenting. Options ranged from a snorkel that permits you to run the air con out of your Tesla or Rivian right into a rooftop tent from Campstream, to a customized Tesla automobile tenting equipment from Fruble Fabrications, to light-weight journey trailers optimized to work with electrical autos from 360 Sierra.
It’s nothing new to cobble collectively determined tenting options into merchandise for overlanding, RVing, and even tenting in your automobile, however the addition of photo voltaic and lithium-ion batteries is for the primary time making if attainable to construct a full equipment round these options with zero emissions powered by the solar.
Campstream’s Rooftop Tent AC Adapter
The blokes at Campstream hail from Sweden and had been dissatisfied with the rooftop tent expertise on their Teslas. To maintain rooftop tents heat or chilly historically requires a bolt-on air conditioner or diesel heating unit to maintain from cooking or freezing relying on the surface temperature.
Picture credit score: Kyle Subject, CleanTechnica
To resolve this, the staff developed a customized snorkel and baffle that matches onto the window of a Tesla Mannequin Y, 3, or Rivian that permits you to make the most of the air con that already lives inside these electrical autos to maintain your rooftop tent at an optimum temperature in a single day. They actually have a helpful addition to the equipment that allows you to run a USB cable by means of the identical vent gap to maintain your telephone charged in a single day with out having to go away it within the automobile. Sensible.
Fruble’s Tesla Tenting Package
We’ve talked about Fruble Fabrications earlier than, nevertheless it was actually thrilling to see the car-camping equipment designed by Jimmy of “Residing In Tesla” YouTube fame in particular person. The 90-pound, flat-packed camper kit-in-a-box is shipped from his manufacturing facility in British Columbia, Canada, to only about wherever on the planet and delivers an IKEA-style meeting course of.
Picture credit score: Kyle Subject, CleanTechnica
When totally assembled, the $1,865 USD Fruble Tesla Camper Package offers a platform so that you can sleep on with a mattress, a house for a fuel or induction range, a cutout for a fold-up sink, and loads of storage as well. The put in equipment is available in three items, and since we final noticed it on-line, Jimmy has added an induction range powered by a lithium-ion battery to his personal setup. The acquisition of a conveyable energy station allowed Jimmy to remove the burning of cooking fuel, and drops his private emissions whereas decreasing waste.
360 Sierra’s Simple Tow Trailer
Lastly, the crew over at 360 Sierra constructed up a Yakima trailer with an easy-to-tow tenting equipment. They used Renogy’s 100 amp-hour lithium batteries as the muse and paired them with a 180-watt photo voltaic panel and a fold-out kitchen. It’s totally plumbed with water and options primarily Dometic merchandise which have stood the check of time, having been used within the RV, resort, and journey sectors for many years.
Picture credit score: Kyle Subject, CleanTechnica
We love the clear integration of photo voltaic to the onboard energy system and the way it seamlessly enabled using a Dometic CFX electrical fridge that’s totally sealed and designed for use out within the parts. The general trailer weighs in at simply 350 kilos, which, coupled with its lengthy towing arm, makes it straightforward to maneuver round by hand in addition to on the again of nearly any car with a hitch adapter. Their trailer on the occasion was fitted with a fuel range, however Andre confirmed that with the addition of one other battery cell, it may simply energy an induction range as an alternative.
I hooked it as much as my Tesla Mannequin Y for some wheeling across the bumpy grass area and didn’t even discover that it was there. Afterwards, I grabbed it with the handy deal with on the hitch adapter and lifted it off my car so it may stand on the assist leg. The trailer is properly balanced and actually does make it straightforward to totally equipment out a car for tenting with minimal fuss.
General
It was nice to see the addition of a tenting part to the California Tesla Takeover occasion this 12 months, which is usually targeted on wraps, rims, and sound programs. Opening up a tenting part lets designers showcase their merchandise to patrons they know are already interested by a cleantech life-style.
We hope to see the identical tenting part on the occasion subsequent 12 months and look ahead to sharing much more options when the time comes. For a fast fly-by model overview of a number of the highlights from the occasion, try the video beneath from Kyle Conner and Colton Guerin from Out of Spec Studios.
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