Hybrid motorhomes

Moped

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With the shift to electric and hybrid powered vehicles taking place I would have thought motorhomes are a perfect vehicle for hybrid power as they are large enough to have decent sized batteries installed.

And the batteries could be used for powering up the motorhome accessories when parked up.

As well as having a roof covered in solar panels to top up the hybrid batteries when stationary or even when on the move.

And batteries could of course be topped up when on hook up.

As such it is a slight mystery that motorhome manufacturers seem slow to move in this direction.
 
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Best they leave it to the people who actually manufacture vehicles, I think.
 
A lot of makers are working on this now but will hold of to see if new and better/lighter batts come along plus faster charging times.
 
Motorhomes have specific problems with being EV's or Hybrid which either don't apply to other vehicles, or governments are legislating to alleviate on other vehicles, namely weight. Most cars can be built heavier to take the extra weight, licences for commercial vans are touted to be changed to allow a heavier GVW, but many motorhomes already struggle to keep under 3.5t and government are not looking at changing the licence to allow driving a motorhome over 3.5t on a car licence.
 
All the regs will require a update over the next few years,remember at first cars were taxed on hp before ww2.
 
trevskoda said:
All the regs will require a update over the next few years,remember at first cars were taxed on hp before ww2.[/QUOTE]

Trevor

Thankfully i do not remember.

How much did you pay on yours?:lol-053:
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mark61 said:
Best they leave it to the people who actually manufacture vehicles, I think.
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Absolutely correct, sheer scales of economy,and amount required to invest in R and D makes it way beyond the scope of converters to make a feasible investment.

Alternative fuel vehicles are still in their infancy, to draw a paralllel perhaps where petrol vehicles were in 1910 ...the leaps made there have been astounding ,like electronics too last 50 years. THe solutions just around the corner. ....on a cheery note we probably will all be pushing up the daisies and doubtful we will see any significant revolution in our driving careers

Channa
 
The yanks had a battery car tiller driven in 1911 with a 100 mile range at 28 mph, as ladies could not hand start engines,but in 1912 the first reliable starter motor was fitted in usa and the electric and steam cars died.
Electric cars/trucks are coming on leaps and bounds,if they get the salt silicon battery working well and into full time production all fuel veh will go into history books,and no you cannot bring any sand home from the beach to convert before you ask.
 
trevskoda said:
The yanks had a battery car tiller driven in 1911 with a 100 mile range at 28 mph, as ladies could not hand start engines,but in 1912 the first reliable starter motor was fitted in usa and the electric and steam cars died.
Electric cars/trucks are coming on leaps and bounds,if they get the salt silicon battery working well and into full time production all fuel veh will go into history books,and no you cannot bring any sand home from the beach to convert before you ask.
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Yes, a little over 100 years ago it wasn't so clear if there was a future for petrol cars.

A brief history of electric cars: the most popular car of 1900 - Curbed
 
channa said:
Absolutely correct, sheer scales of economy,and amount required to invest in R and D makes it way beyond the scope of converters to make a feasible investment.

Alternative fuel vehicles are still in their infancy, to draw a paralllel perhaps where petrol vehicles were in 1910 ...the leaps made there have been astounding ,like electronics too last 50 years. THe solutions just around the corner. ....on a cheery note we probably will all be pushing up the daisies and doubtful we will see any significant revolution in our driving careers

Channa
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Let’s draw another comparison the first Diesel engines that were to large for cars, and were used for ships and submarines. Then the technology improved till they could fit a Diesel engine into a truck and trains, then eventually into cars. In Germany today we have hydrogen fuel cell trains running, and it’s reckined we will have them to next decade. Possibly in 20-30 years we may find that hydrogen fuel cell vehicles will be on our roads.
 
Moped said:
With the shift to electric and hybrid powered vehicles taking place I would have thought motorhomes are a perfect vehicle for hybrid power as they are large enough to have decent sized batteries installed.

And the batteries could be used for powering up the motorhome accessories when parked up.

As well as having a roof covered in solar panels to top up the hybrid batteries when stationary or even when on the move.

And batteries could of course be topped up when on hook up.

As such it is a slight mystery that motorhome manufacturers seem slow to move in this direction.
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Motorhomes have generators too all ready . An electric motorhome with reserve fuel tank and a generator as well as all the solar and you have a hybrid.
 
Derekoak said:
Motorhomes have generators too all ready . An electric motorhome with reserve fuel tank and a generator as well as all the solar and you have a hybrid.
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The whole point is to get away from fossil fuels, how do you intend powering the generator.
 
spigot said:
Interesting to point out here that Dr Ferdinand Porshe’s first project in the 1890s was an electric car.

That particular vehicle had an electric motor on each of the four wheels.
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My grandfather used to say what goes around comes around,nothing new under the sun.
 
Derekoak said:
Motorhomes have generators too all ready . An electric motorhome with reserve fuel tank and a generator as well as all the solar and you have a hybrid.
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Yep, that's exactly what a hybrid is, some like the Prius use a combination of electric and petrol engines to propel the vehicle, choosing whatever is appropriate for the driving conditions, others like the original Ampera use only electric motors to power the wheels, and a small petrol engine to run a generator to increase range when the batteries start to run out.
 
Just remembered, a car manufacturer is launching an EV with solar roof, it's claimed this will power the car for 800miles per year if it's always left outside in sun.
 
A google of World Solar Challenge, now Bridgestone World Solar Challenge is worth
a read to see where things are at the forefront of what can be done.
In sunny old Oz it's certainly viable to get enough solar energy to power competing vehicles
virtually endlessly, but with very specialised lightweight vehicles driven with utmost
care weighing next to nowt with a solar array over virtually the whole surface area.
They even make use of road camber to maximise sun exposure!
There are restrictions so that cars compete within certain parameters such as max.weight
of batteries allowed etc.
But it's a still a long way from solar panels supplying a 3.5t motorhome with enough energy
to be get anywhere near meaningful distances.
Even if solar panels were 100% efficient there's just not enough Wattage to be collected
from the sun per m2 of solar panel.
 
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