Our Solar Electric Trailer Journey

About Our Solar Electric Trailer Journey

Follow our journey as we buy a Rivian R1T electric truck to pull a travel trailer equipped to run exclusively on solar power! oursolarelectrictrailer.substack.com (https://oursolarelectrictrailer.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Devin and Gail Thorpe

Category

leisure · leisure

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

3 Dec 2021

Latest episode

26 May 2023

Latest episodes

57 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   26 May 2023

   Mission Accomplished - Our Final Episode

   We’ve just returned from our latest—and for many purposes—our last camping trip in the Aliner Scout. This is our farewell. Eighteen months ago, we launched “Our Solar Electric Trailer Journey” with a grand vision of buying an electric truck, probably a Rivian, to two a trailer we’d equip with solar power. We still don’t have a truck, and the latest estimate for when one will arrive is still months in the future. We didn’t let this stop us. We bought an Aliner Scout camper we could tow with our Chevy Bolt EV. We added solar panels and a 200 amp-hour, 2.5 kWh lithium battery, along with a top-of-the-line inverter/charger and charge controller. After months of research and education, we installed the panels, battery and all the rest ourselves. Along the way, we shared our journey with you, including our many woes. We hope the challenges and problems we faced helped you or someone else to avoid some of the pain we experienced. The pinnacle of our journey was a 1,000-mile trip (https://oursolarelectrictrailer.substack.com/p/they-said-it-couldnt-be-done#details) we made towing our little RV with our little ev along the southeastern coast of the United States from Florida to North Carolina and back. What a blast! On that trip, we were able to go five out of seven days without plugging in the trailer, operating on solar and battery power. And plenty of people told us it couldn’t be done! While we won’t be posting here any longer, you can follow Devin’s podcast and newsletter here (http://superpowers4good.com). We’ll genuinely miss you. We’ve loved building relationships in the real world, from random folks we’ve met at charging stations who share what they’ve learned from our videos to our podcast and YouTube friends who’ve invited us to be guests on their shows. We’ll miss you all. Thank you for the kindness, support and patience you’ve shown us. We’ve learned a great deal from you! Now, good luck on your solar electric trailer journey, whatever it may be to you! P.S. The Aliner is now for sale. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit oursolarelectrictrailer.substack.com (https://oursolarelectrictrailer.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   24 Mar 2023

   Why Does It Take So Long to Repair an RV?

   We are excited to report that our little Aliner Camper is back in business! You may recall that a blowout left our rig out of the game. We were surprised by how long it took to get the little popup camper trailer back in service. Here’s a recap of what has taken so long. Step 1: Insurance We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly State Farm received our claim and processed it, sending us an estimate of the cash required to cover the repair, net of our deductible. That entire process took only a week. Step 2: Find Someone to Do the Repairs It took about three weeks for us to find someone willing and able to do the repairs. One challenge for us was that there are no Aliner dealers in our area. Not only wasn’t there a dealer with a repair shop we could automatically call, few of the repair shops around were familiar with Aliners or interested in the sort of repair we needed. Step 3: Find Parts Of course, finding parts wasn’t our job, it fell to the team that agreed to do the repairs. Not having done much Aliner work, they didn’t have a good supply chain in place for those parts. It took about a month for them to get the parts ordered and then another month for the parts to arrive. Step 4: Get Permission From the HOA The next challenge, with parts in hand, was to schedule the work. We hadn’t fully appreciated when we found a team willing and able to do the work that they didn’t have a facility to do the repairs. Their plan was to use our driveway. Our HOA didn’t think that was a good plan, so we had to apply for a waiver of the rules. That application process pushed the repair out another month. The HOA was gracious and quickly approved the plan. Step 5: Do the Repairs Last week, in our driveway, the team did the repair. They did a great job cutting out about 10 percent of the floor of the trailer and replacing it. They sealed everything up good and tight. Critically, they took out all the solar power electrictronics and put it all back in. Not surprisingly, it looks like they did a better job than we had done as novices. Next Step: Go Camping! With our trailer repaired, we’re planning a little excursion for next weekend! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit oursolarelectrictrailer.substack.com (https://oursolarelectrictrailer.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   24 Feb 2023

   7 Reasons We Pre-Ordered an Aptera Solar-Powered EV

   When you purchase an item after clicking a link from this post, we may earn a commission. We haven’t talked much about the Aptera (https://aptera.us) we’ve pre-ordered, so we thought we’d use our newsletter, podcast and YouTube show this week to explain the seven reasons we pre-ordered one of these solar-powered EVs. The Aptera is a solar-powered, three-wheeled vehicle enclosed like a car (so you’ll frequently catch us calling it a car) but regulated more like a motorcycle. Reason #1: Extreme Efficiency We expect the Aptera to be the most efficient vehicle on the road. With 10 miles per kWh of range, the little EV will be 2.5 times more efficient than our Bolt and five times more efficient than the Rivian electric pickup we’ve ordered. Reason #2: George Jetson Style Devin says the first thing that came to mind when he saw a photo of an Aptera was George Jetson’s flying car. It is that spacey! We love that! We get that not everyone wants a car that attention-grabbing, but we do. We want to be talking to people about energy efficiency, solar power and Our Solar Electric Trailer Journey. Even with our Chevy Bolt, we are frequently stopped by people curious about EVs. We can’t wait to drive the Aptera! Reason #3: Solar Panels The solar panels on the Aptera can provide up to 40 miles per day of driving! To get that, you’ll need to upgrade from the base model’s limited solar panel coverage to get the whole vehicle covered with solar. With that upgrade, you could get 10,000 miles (theoretically even more) of free electricity from the sun every year! It is hard to imagine. Reason #4: The Incredible Range We’ve pre-ordered the 600-mile range version of the Aptera. The longest-range option will run 1,000 miles on a single charge! Production will begin, the company says, with the 400-mile range option and then move to the 250-mile battery. The batteries in the Apteras don’t appear to be designed for super fast charging, but that may come. For now, the company promises 40 to 60 kW fast charging (about the same as our Bolt). Keep in mind, however, that given the vehicle’s efficiency, it will be charging 2.5 times faster than the Bolt in terms of miles per minute. At this rate, the Aptera should be capable of adding 100 miles of range in ten minutes! Reason #5: Affordability The Aptera starts at an almost unbelievable price of just $25,900. The version we pre-ordered with all-wheel drive, the full solar package and 600 miles of range still comes in under $40k. That is an excellent price for a car that doesn’t require charging for routine, around-town driving or even short road trips. Reason #6: Speed With the all-wheel drive package, the Aptera will have a 0-60 time of just 4 seconds. That’s fast. We think of our Bolt as fast with its 7.2 second 0-60 speed. We can’t wait to put the hammer down in the little Aptera! Reason #7: We’re Invested Aptera is raising money via investment crowdfunding. We invested shortly after we pre-ordered the vehicle. Today, you can invest as little as $210 via the crowdfunding site Republic (https://republic.com/aptera). Let’s be clear about a couple of things here. We’re biased. Aptera can’t make our car until it raises more money. We want people to invest. We’re not financial advisors. Don’t invest because we did! So, there you have the seven reasons we’re excited to have pre-ordered an Aptera! Do you need a hook on the garage wall for your EV charging cable? This one (https://amzn.to/3YXgj2W) might work. If you’re interested in investing in companies that help address climate change, you may wish to learn more at SuperCrowd23 (https://thesupercrowd.com/super50off). Subscribers get 50 percent off! (https://thesupercrowd.com/super50off) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit oursolarelectrictrailer.substack.com (https://oursolarelectrictrailer.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)