Electric Travel Trailers Are Coming to the Great Outdoors and Could Upend RVing
Alums from Tesla and Apple are reimagining icons of the American road for the 21st century.
The Lightship L1 trailer. The startup hopes to have its electric trailers on the road by late 2024.
Courtesy: Lightship
When Tesla launched the Model X in 2015, the world’s first electric SUV rolled on to a stage towing an Airstream travel trailer. In what seems like unintentional foreshadowing, the $30 billion US recreational vehicle market is now getting the Tesla treatment.
A pair of California startups staffed by alumni of the electric car company have developed the first self-propelled, battery-and-solar-powered travel trailers. The vehicles are set to hit the market in late 2024. Following the Tesla playbook, San Francisco’s Lightship and Silicon Valley-based Pebble aim to not just electrify a century-old icon of the American road; the companies are attempting to reinvent it for the EV age.