In a previous post I shared what we want to do, in a general sense. Now I’d like to go into a bit more detail. I’ll continue burrowing down into separate topics as we go along.
1. Show how we achieve all-electric mobile living
I’ll report on our conversion to an all-electric travel trailer (in progress). We have converted our refrigerator to DC and changed over to induction cooking. John is installing an upgraded solar/battery system. I’m excited to describe those in more detail!
We are working toward buying an electric tow vehicle, exact date TBD. Rivian announced that they will start shipping by the end of 2020. We’ll keep our eyes and ears open for other options as well.
My goal is to document the process of getting from here (propane and diesel-powered) to there (electricity-powered).
2. Once we have an EV to tow Howie…
Then the real fun begins! Will it be possible to stay nomadic in this configuration? How much will it cramp our style to work around recharging the truck?
We’ll focus on the range question. At this point we’re expecting maybe 150-250 miles while towing. That’s a fairly vague expectation, so we’ll want to gather a lot of data and demonstrate what affects it and how we might improve it.
As we travel across the country, we’ll report on charging challenges. Specifically finding charging stations in more remote areas and also dealing with having the trailer attached.
We would love to continue having adventures (mostly the good kind, if possible). Maybe we can decide on a goal, similar to our quests for reaching state highpoints and racing in various states and countries. The following map shows where we have reached the highpoint (blue), raced (orange), and done both (green), as of today:
We really enjoy seeing all parts of the country. Every time we arrive someplace new, we realize how much MORE there is to explore. And we invariably plan to come back again. It would be fun to have more reasons to do that.
3. Communicate with a wider audience
I enjoy blogging and intend to continue writing, now with a new purpose. We have done a bit of amateur photography and a tiny bit of videography and it will be good to improve on those skills. John has a basic drone that he enjoys learning how to fly. I think he’s ready for an upgrade.
Along with the outward communication, we will continue to seek feedback and help from people we know. Plus get to know more people, have more conversations, and develop contacts in other spaces. We’re hoping to attend events, give tours of our living quarters, and gather comments and suggestions.
Some other things we might consider: Creating YouTube videos, learning how to post on Instagram, developing a Facebook group. Also perhaps researching and testing products to create buyers guides.
4. Seek out potential partners
For example, electric truck companies, charging networks, solar companies, … more brainstorming needed.
We could write stories from the road. We will be collecting data anyway and could report back internally. We’re happy to give feedback about what works vs. what people might find difficult in a conversion to all-electric.
Ideally we create publicity as ambassadors in the RV world and in other circles we’re familiar with (or that we get to know).
So many things to think about! Suggestions are most welcome.
In conclusion, we have a sense of what some of this will look like (the conversion of the travel trailer, the basic website outline, the start of this blog). We have dreams of where this might take us. Time to GO and DO!
P.S. The featured image at the top of the post was taken at the Salt Flats in Utah. I think John’s pose embodies the idea of “looking ahead”, along with “I love standing on houses…”