This Woman Turned Her Tesla Model 3 Into a Pickup Truck

[K-Dog]

  + 

EV's have trunks.  But if you find a charge station that is already occupied a Trunk Monkey could be an option.

[RE]

EV's have trunks.  But if you find a charge station that is already occupied a Trunk Monkey could be an option.

How long would it take a 2000W generator with a 15 amp AC output to put 50 miles worth of juice into the batt pack of your Tesla?  But yea, a portable generator is a wise prep.  I don't think the rental EVs come with one though, which is part of the reason Hertz is selling off its fleet of EVs.  They also are a customer who decided to go back to ICE.  Actually, 20,000 customers.

RE

[RE]

This is a nice new product that actually produces enough juice while you're parked to give you a decent number of miles of driving if there is no nearby grid power to tap into.

No new technology, it's just packaged nicely to fit on your car roof then unfurl while you're camped out and charge your vehicle.  If you go for a week long camping trip, park at the campsite and enjoy nature all week and BBQ some ribeyes, at the end of the week you have 210 miles of free happy motoring to the next campsite.

On the downside, this is not a device you could leave bolted to the roof of your car in any city and leave the car unattended and expect it to still be there when you return.  Maybe if you park it in front of a police station, or perhaps in a fenced and gated storage center with 24/7 armed security guards on duty it would be OK.  Otherwise, $3000 worth of solar panels on your roof all the time wouldn't last a week under normal driving circumstances in any city.

However, if homeless with a van, you could drive for free outside the city say 50 miles, spend 4 days at a legal campground with a typical $30/night fee, then unbolt it and put it inside the van, drive into town to work 3 12 hour shifts as a CNA in a Cripples Warehouse, sleep the 2 nights in town in the parking lot of your choice (different each night), then back to the campground after work on day 3.

Your weekly cost is $120/wk campground fee (which might even include free wifi), virtually nothing for fuel commutation cost while you earn $20/hr for 36 hours work = $720.  Your tax bracket is really low, so most income tax would be ~$100, another $50 for SS withholding, you have at least $450 wk left over.

If with your van you also tow a 15' trailer (cargo or camper style),  you have enough roof space for a second unit, doubling your daily solar mileage to 60 miles.  Driving one day, day off for charging the next you could drive cross country for free in a little over 1 month, staying for free at truckstops along the route as well as free unimproved campgrounds.  With some kind of work you can do remotely or a skill that can earn money daily you wouldn't even need the min wage job.  Ray Jason's gig as a Street Juggler that he made his money at while sailing around the wrold a couple of times in his yacht Aventura is one such job. Music of course if you play guitar, Jewel did that thing before she hit it big in the music biz.  A tradesman could pickup work at construction sites doing carpentry or plumbing or roofing.  A retiree like me could live like a king on Social Security and Pension money.  In fact, if I had a partner to do it with, I could fit out the trailer so it was accessible for my EV mobility devices and I would do that tomorrow.  Keep the scooter and chair charged as well, and it would run my recliner for sleeping. Not by myself though, too risky with the one leg.  Volkswagen makes a really cute EV camper van.

I prefer my own interior designs to this one, so I'd probably go for a cargo version without the commercial camper modifications and do the interior custom.  That cuts the price down as well.  Of course, you could do it much cheaper with a used full size ICE powered van, but then you lose the free driving miles and being fully Green, other than the embedded energy in the van and batt pack.  Not sure what it's towing capacity is, but I think it should handle a lightweight camper trailer.  One person can sleep in the van, the other the trailer for nice privacy.  It would work for 4 people also as 2 couples, or a couple with 2 kids.



Probably won't find a partner to do it with, but it's a nice fantasy. 

RE