Lightship’s New Solar-Powered Travel Trailer Can Charge Your EV When You’re Off the Grid
Lightship may have just made camping with an EV that much easier.
The company has just unveiled the L1, a new travel trailer that promises to solve the biggest issue that comes with using a battery-powered vehicle to tow something—the dramatic drop in range. The trailer comes with its own electric powertrain, allowing it to propel itself and not drain the battery of the vehicle towing it.
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The L1 is basically an EV thanks to its powertrain, although one that cannot be independently controlled. Lightship knows a thing or two about electric cars—its founders, Ben Parker and Toby Kraus, are Tesla alums, and its team is filled with employees who worked at Rivian and Lucid. The powertrain gets its juice from an 80-kWh battery pack that helps ensure that the 27-foot trailer won’t drain the range of the battery-powered car, SUV or truck towing it despite tipping the scale at 7,500 pounds. The battery pack, which is fed by an array of roof-mounted solar panels that produce up to 3 kW of energy, can also be used to keep your EV’s battery topped up when you’re far from a charger.
The trailer also features an aerodynamic design and stands only 6 feet 9 inches in Road Mode so that it doesn’t produce any unnecessary drag. In Camp Mode, the roof of the trailer rises up to a height of 10 feet, which not only creates more space inside the vehicle but also reveals a series of large panoramic windows. We’ve only seen renderings of the interior, but the space appears to have a wide-open and minimalistic design. Lightship says the cabin has enough room to sleep six and will come equipped with electric appliances. The trailer’s battery also has enough capacity to keep the trailer and all its features running for up to a week if you’re spending time off the grid.
“We are leveraging our expertise in automotive EV development and design to build a brand that creates delightful outdoor travel experiences for everyone and brings even more people into the pastime of RVing,” Kraus said in a statement.
Interested? You can reserve the L1 now through the Lightship website for $500. The trailer is expected to go into production late next year and will cost $125,000, though EV tax credits can help lower the price. If you want to check out the vehicle for yourself, it’ll be on display at South by Southwest this coming weekend.
Click here for more photos of the Lightship L1 trailer.
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