By Jeff Glucker
I’m surprised it’s taken this long, but the idea of adding electrification enhancements to the RV world is finally arriving. Airstream has revealed a concept trailer called the eStream. It’s a 22-foot long travel trailer with a battery pack, electric motors, solar power, and an even sleeker design than the standard Airstream trailers. And it’s featured packed with stuff that could make trailer camping a far better use of your time and energy.
The eStream uses a chassis developed in partnership with German company ZF Friedrichshafen. It’s scalable, which means different powertrains, trailer sizes, and battery packs can be applied for different cost levels and applications. On the eStream, Airstream has fitted an 80-kWh pack. Paired with the 180-watt solar panels on the roof, Airstream says this is essentially like being hooked to shore power while staying off-grid. You could theoretically run all the power in your trailer for two weeks with this setup, which would be pretty amazing.
This pack isn’t just for powering the goods on the inside though, as Airstream has built in electric motors into the eStream as well. The idea here is to reduce the strain on the tow vehicle when hauling. If the trailer is aiding in the creation of forward momentum, you can reduce the fuel needs of the tow vehicle. To push this concept further with more traditional methods, Airstream built the eStream to sit eight inches more narrow than a standard trailer. The roof is free of the HVAC and vent elements you’d normally find up there. And the under-trailer space is sleek and even incorporates a rear diffuser. Airstream has hidden a lot of the battery, controllers, and HVAC elements into a space it calls the basement of the trailer. As a result, the trailer itself is more aerodynamic.
There are even more tricks though, as this trailer can be parked without a tow vehicle. Using an app-based controller, you can position the trailer into a tight camping space. You could move it out of the shade into a spot so the roof can get more sun. Or you could park it in a trailer storage lot, your driveway, or more, all with the trailer moving under its own power.
The Airstream eStream is a brilliant concept, and I hope it moves from that to reality in the near future.
So it’s an electric pusher trailer for use behind either an EV or an IC vehicle. Interesting, as a conventional pusher trailer is IC and is intended for use behind an EV, at least to the extent that there is such a thing as a “conventional” pusher trailer.
https://web.archive.org/web/20110316060432/http://www.jstraubel.com/EVpusher/EVpusher.htm
https://web.archive.org/web/20110202201636/http://www.jstraubel.com/EVpusher/EVpusher2.htm
That is interesting. It seems the next logical step for him is a Prius pusher, although shortening it and integrating the fuel tank and battery would be more challenging.
Came for the “Ohm Home on the range, eh watt, watt” joke, but had to make it myself.
I’ve seen vans with battery power before, but not motorised like this. The uncouple-and-remote-control parking of the van would be reason enough for many to buy, to avoid the hassle of reversing.
It’s not a bad all-in one concept, with range-extending potential (or mitigate the drag of the trailer) plus the off-grid aspect. It simplifies things to a certain degree being self-powered rather than trying to feed into the car’s battery like a simple add-on battery pack that has been proposed in the past.
Juggling how much power to use while driving versus how much to save for the stay is something that probably needs to be set – eg when can you get a last charge/top-up before getting to the destination?
Any engineers out there with an intelligent opinion on the efficiency of a pusher trailer v. external battery pack for the tow vehicle?