Cabin : Club Location : South West Posts : 272 Join date : 2018-03-06
Subject: Electric Camper anyone? Tue May 31, 2022 12:05 pm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK6Wp3hw6ww
Fun link, if anyone fancy's watching it. I think this is the one that VW Kampers did?? Might be wrong on that one though.
Dave
Tallulah
Cabin : Flight 011 Location : South Somerset, UK Posts : 5101 Join date : 2011-06-05
Subject: Re: Electric Camper anyone? Wed Jun 01, 2022 10:20 am
As a campsite owner, I have an issue with the suggestion that it is ok to charge the camper using a regular campsite hookup point while on site.
The amount of electricity used to recharge a 50kwh battery (in this example) as well as the leisure battery and whatever else gets plugged in, far exceeds what would normally be expected to be used by a 'regular' camper paying for electric hookup at their pitch. The average daily usage while camping is 3-5kwh so we are talking at least 10x usage!
The maximum supply of a campsite EHU is 16 amps (some, including ours, are 10 amps) so the maximum wattage of an on board charger for the camper is 3.6kw (at 10 amps this drops to 2.2kw) This will take almost 14 hours to recharge a 50kwh battery from empty (23hrs at 2.2kw). Of course their battery won't be 'empty' when they arrive, but they will running lights or (apparently in some cases) an electric induction hob at 2.4kw during their stay so they will most likely use even more!
While the EHU supply to the pitch should be suitably earthed and protected by an RCD, it falls short of the required electrical safety requirements for EV charging and has not been designed to supply a large amount of current over a sustained period of time - 3.6kw for 13+ hours! Charging a vehicle in this way therefore poses a personal as well as a fire risk safety risk and will invalidate any insurance.
And lastly, you wouldn't expect to be provided with free petrol for your onward journey if you arrive in your petrol powered camper, so why extra electric?
Having read my mini rant above, you might assume we are anti EV, however we have owned an EV for over 4 years (although not a camper) and would never go back to an ICE. We now have 2x 7.2kw dedicated EV chargers on site for guests to use and our terms and conditions prohibit using the pitch side EHU for EV charging for the reasons stated above.
