What it’s like to drive the world’s first hybrid motorhome

I think it’s fair to say that one of the worst driving experiences you can have today is driving a large RV, such as a Class A RV. I’m not just saying this for idiot reasons, it’s simply this: you can’t have something that is essentially a villa on wheels and expect it to behave like a cottage on wheels. RVs are also some of the least efficient vehicles you can buy, since you’re driving on wheels through a house that has beds, a kitchen, and, yes, a toilet. They suck up gas with all the grace and restraint a puppy would display if thrown into a bowl of taco meat. There’s definitely room for improvement, and I’m happy to say that I think I actually experienced some of those improvements a few weeks ago when I had the opportunity to drive the imaginatively named THOR test vehicle.

Okay, yes, it’s been almost a month since I went to the Home of Studebaker in South Bend, Indiana, at the invitation of THOR and electric van maker Harbinger to try out what, in retrospect, seems like a new idea Obviously: a motorhome with a hybrid drive. Yes, yes, it’s been weeks and I haven’t written it down yet, but I’m doing it now! I was busy!

Anyway, let’s talk about this concept in broad strokes for a moment. Your traditional, modern, gas-powered Class A RV (or even a Class C, for that matter) will get about 5 to 10 mpg, and more than 10 is only possible under pretty ideal circumstances, which you’ll probably only see if you notice the flying unicorns Everything around you in the sapphire blue sky.

The idea

The idea of ​​adapting an electric powertrain to such a platform has great appeal; The inherent torque of an electric motor would greatly improve the normally sub-glacial acceleration of an RV, and the greater efficiency offered by an electric powertrain cannot be ignored.

However, there is an Achilles heel here: batteries. Modern battery technology, as advanced as it is, simply does not have the energy density to enable a battery that can give an RV significant range. There’s just so much mass at play, and testing of Winnebago’s prototype electric RV shows the real-world range is about 80 to 90 miles, and for every hour-and-a-half drive you’ll need to spend at least 45 minutes charging. It’s not great.

The point of a motorhome is this Visit placesAnd limiting it to only about an hour and a half of driving before having to stop and charge for a longer period of time doesn’t meet that requirement. An all-electric RV is simply not a viable solution, at least not yet.

But! There is a compromise, and that is a hybrid. A hybrid – in this case a Series hybridin which only the electric drive train moves the vehicle and the combustion engine is only used to generate electricity – combines the efficiency and high torque of an electric drive train with the flexibility and energy density of gasoline.

If you would like a tour of the THOR test vehicle chassis and drivetrain adapted to the Harbinger electric delivery vehicle chassis, I invite you to let John Harris, co-founder and CEO of Harbinger, explain it all to me:

Driving a gas-powered RV

It’s a fascinating thing, but right now we’re here to talk about how the THOR test vehicle drove and I promise I’ll get to it. To get a real sense of context, it was arranged for me to drive a new, conventional gas-powered Class A motorhome, an Entrgra Coach Vision:

This elegant beast was, I believe, about 30 feet long, built on a Ford F53 chassis and powered by a 7.3-liter V8 gasoline engine producing 335 horsepower and 468 foot-pounds of torque. This is a large, heavy machine that probably weighs around 20,000 pounds. I mean, you can’t be shocked about this considering this thing has a kitchen with marble countertops and tiles:

There’s a house on the back of this thing, which is the main reason driving one of these things is so, well, terrible. This one I rode is one of the best on the market, but driving it still feels like you’re trying to control a hippopotamus on rollerblades by pulling on its ears.

It’s difficult to keep it on track since the thing almost completely fills up an entire lane. When you’re on a road with a prominent crown, it’s real work to keep the lane straight. It accelerates slowly, stops slowly and is incredibly top heavy. Driving an RV is something you simply have to endure until you reach your destination where you can finally relax and enjoy your RV.

Incredibly, the driving experience isn’t significantly better than driving my old 1977 Dodge Tioga Class C motorhome. The whole crap felt very familiar – the slowness, the top-heaviness, the nervous keeping, the sluggishness, the constant under-the-surface Fear that you’re just one wrong arm movement away from being upside down or creating giant rooster tail sparks if you get too close to a Jersey barrier or something, it’s all still there.

Let’s just say that driving a large RV is no walk in the park.

Driving the world’s first hybrid motorhome

Okay, now here’s the whole point of why I’m here: to drive the first hybrid RV. At first glance it doesn’t look too different from the petrol model. The size and shape are about the same, but there are some important clues that this is a prototype machine: the interior is only partially developed, but there is furniture and other things inside – it is not an empty load after all Van.

Additionally, if you look closely, you can see that the grille is 3D printed, which is a clever solution:

So what does it feel like to drive a car? Well, the first thing I should qualify for is that I couldn’t drive it on real roads, just a small stretch in a parking lot marked out by traffic cones. I was a little disappointed by this, but I found that the key elements of this hybrid RV’s handling still came through even on this tiny stretch.

The first thing you notice is the acceleration, which is shockingly decent given the enormous mass of the whole thing. It’s not a head-slinging sports car, but it’s still surprisingly quick given the context. You’re just not used to a completely furnished apartment being moved so quickly.

The bigger difference, however, has to do with weight, or actually where the weight lies. Electrified vehicles are always heavy because batteries are heavy as hell, and while RVs are already absurdly heavy, in the case of the THOR test vehicle, most of that weight is in dense battery packs far down in the chassis.

This changes the driving dynamics of these big beasts, as the unsettling top-heaviness that always gives you the feeling of walking with a stack of books or a large vase full of chili on your head when driving a motorhome is virtually eliminated. The hybrid RV felt stable, I was able to make sharp turns without dirtying my pants, and overall the driving experience was noticeably better.

Watch a video of me driving it here. That should give a good idea of ​​what I mean, especially since I got to do some donuts there, which I would never try in a traditional RV:

I don’t yet know what fuel economy benefits the hybrid will offer, but I suspect it will be significant. If this can deliver numbers in the mid-teens, that would be outstanding for an RV.

There’s also the significant advantage of a hybrid vehicle, as all the power stored in those big, heavy batteries should eliminate the need for a noisy and smelly generator. This is a huge deal! When you’re out in the middle of beautiful nowhere, you’ll want power to make margaritas and your various massage machines, but who wants to break the numinous silence with the clatter of a diesel generator? Not you! You don’t want to scare away all the sasquatches!

There is plenty of energy in these batteries for all household needs, and with integrated solar panels on the roof there is an opportunity to feed some free energy back into the system. Solar energy is generally useless for actually increasing range, but it can be helpful for meeting household power needs.

The idea of ​​a hybrid RV just makes sense. The benefits in fuel economy and no generator alone are incredibly compelling, and the improvements in driving dynamics are a huge added bonus. I think this needs to happen and should be one of the most significant and meaningful changes in the otherwise (let’s face it) pretty stagnant RV industry.

I am impressed. I’m excited to see how these come to market and what benefits they bring.

The first ever hybrid RV offers a 500 mile range and I will drive it

Here’s how Harbinger and Thor Industries plan to transform camping with RVs that can travel about 250 miles on a charge

What the hell is Harbinger and why are they showing a boring van at the Detroit Auto Show?