Lordstown Motors, Camping World Partner On Future Electric RV, Servicing

[MEDICALJMP]

Electrified travel trailers and electric RVs were announced by Camping World, which is willing to service the Lordstown Endurance.
December 15, 2020
By Mark Kane

Lordstown Motors and Camping World held a press conference today with two major announcements on both sides.

The first is that the Camping World will become a service partner to handle Lordstown Endurance pickups nationwide in the U.S. The company has over 170 service locations, which - after training - should be able to maintain or repair the Endurance. Potentially, Camping World could also become an additional sales channel for Lordstown Motors.

The second thing is the upcoming Camping World's electrified products - like electrified travel trailers and fifth-wheel campers. Adding battery packs to the trailers would allow them to stay off-grid, without a generator.

Even more interesting are motorized, electrified RVs and the newly announced 'Class E' motorhomes which will be based on Lordstown Motors' EV tech/platform. According to the Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis, electric RVs must be affordable, because $100,000 or more per vehicle is out of range for many customers.
The first prototypes are expected in Summer 2021 and the final products might appear on the market around 2022.

That's all we know from the press conference. We are now awaiting a press release.
***UPDATE: The press release has arrived. Here's some of the important info:
By leveraging Camping World’s growing footprint of over 170 Service and Collision Centers across the United States, with thousands of technicians and service bays, a 24/7 tech hotline and Good Sam’s Roadside Assistance Program, Lordstown Motors customers are expected to enjoy one of the most comprehensive EV support systems ever designed.

Additionally, the two companies are exploring the development of new EV products and solutions for the RV marketplace based on the Endurance platform, including a lithium-ion battery pack for travel trailers that would replace conventional gasoline onboard generators, the first, all electric, high volume production RV (eRV) and installation of a Good Sam charging network at Camping World locations.

https://insideevs.com/news/460526/lordstown-motors-camping-world-electric-rv-servicing/
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Lordstown isn’t idle while preparing their plant for production. This was a smart strategic move. A ready-made system of service centers.

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[Crissa]

Camping World?

As service centers?

Not sure this is in their competence. They do sell RVs, but they have uhh... not exactly stellar reviews, and while they have 170 stores, I don't know how many service centers.

On paper this is a good idea, but...

-Crissa

 

[RonM]

Flash in the pan....

 

[Luke42]

The obvious way to build an electric RV is to tow a travel trailer with an electric pickup truck.

Done.

Will it work for every situation? No. Can an individual make it happen the same day their electric pickup is delivered? Yes.

 

[Crissa]

The obvious way to build ...

As has been pointed out before, there are some interconnection standards that need to be established for the RV to be powered from the truck. And trailers drop the available range, sometimes precipitously, but they come with lots of extras volume. Volume is the biggest problem with carrying enough energy to supply your BEV. And lastly performance; trailers need to brake slightly more than their tow vehicle. A trailer with motors could perform that trick and recover some of the energy that would be lost to friction.

So there are lots of reasons why you would want you RV to be specifically compatible with your BEV vehicle.

-Crissa

 

[Cybertaxi]

I work in the RV industry and the main thing I've learned is stay far away from anything that has Camping World's name on it

 

[madquadbiker]

As has been pointed out before, there are some interconnection standards that need to be established for the RV to be powered from the truck. And trailers drop the available range, sometimes precipitously, but they come with lots of extras volume. Volume is the biggest problem with carrying enough energy to supply your BEV. And lastly performance; trailers need to brake slightly more than their tow vehicle. A trailer with motors could perform that trick and recover some of the energy that would be lost to friction.

So there are lots of reasons why you would want you RV to be specifically compatible with your BEV vehicle.

-Crissa

Massive area for solar panels on the RV roof.

 

[Crissa]

Massive area for solar panels on the RV roof.

And volume to store fold-outs.

You could put enough to fast-charge by, rather than just a trickle.

-Crissa

 

[FutureBoy]

And volume to store fold-outs.

You could put enough to fast-charge by, rather than just a trickle.

-Crissa

OK! So now there is a challenge question for the engineers on here.

How many solar panels (and estimated total volume and weight of said panels) would it take to have enough energy coming in to match a Tesla supercharger? Could those panels fit in the bed of the CT?

I've created a separate thread to actually get answers to this problem.