The Tesla Cybertruck has been out for a little while and we’re now seeing people actually doing some truck stuff with them, but one truck thing that hasn’t gone as smoothly for the Cybertruck is camping, unless Tesla’s own camping solution sounds good to you. Living Vehicle thinks it has the solution with what it calls the CyberTrailer. This $175,000 camper has an onboard water generator, an interior like a luxury apartment, and its own drive motors to help save your tow vehicle’s range.
I’ve said this many times before, but towing with an EV is currently a messy thing. Electric trucks are plenty capable, but real-world testing has shown that towing a modest camper absolutely obliterates range. Multiple Cybertruck towing tests reported by the Fast Lane Truck and CleanTechnica suggest that you can get around 130 miles of range with a travel trailer weighing between 6,500 pounds and 7,500 pounds or so. That’s actually pretty good for an electric truck right now. Car and Driver got 140 miles of range towing a lighter 6,100-pound camper with a GMC Hummer EV.
Unfortunately, that still means that every couple of hours or so you’ll have to pull off of the interstate and find a place to charge. Currently, the vast majority of charging spaces are standard parking stalls, which would require you to detach your trailer first before charging. I don’t need to tell you how annoying that’s going to get if you’re on a long trip. Thankfully, pull-through gas station-style chargers are sprouting up all over America, but it might be a while before they become mainstream.
Some RV manufacturers think the solution to this is having the trailer help the tow vehicle along. The Airstream eStream (which I’ve been informed is no longer in serious development), the Pebble Flow, the Lightship L1, and the Dethleffs E.Home are all examples of trailers that have their own large lithium batteries and drive motors. The idea isn’t to push the tow vehicle but to effectively reduce the load on the tow vehicle, saving crucial range so you don’t have to worry about those annoying charging stops as often. Now, the folks of Living Vehicle have something to join that list of self-propelled campers.
Heavy Metal
We’ve written about Living Vehicle before and I found myself fascinated at its outrageously heavy and fantastically expensive metal apartments on wheels.
Back in 2023, I called the Living Vehicle HD30 Pro 30-foot travel trailer the “most” camper on the market. I wasn’t referring to its size, but its stats. This camper weighed 16,000 pounds, had so many solar panels that the company made awnings out of them, carried a large 72 kWh battery to power the thing, and the bumper-pull trailer required a Ford F-450 or similar to safely tow it. I likened the Living Vehicle HD Pro to Zach Snyder’s Justice League. It’s not the best, but oh my there’s a lot of content.
Not all of Living Vehicle’s campers are like this. Until recently, the smallest camper on the Living Vehicle menu was the HD24, which is a 24-foot trailer weighing in at a still chunky 11,000 pounds in its base spec. That’s still way too heavy for the current crop of electric trucks, so the company is going lighter.
The CyberTrailer
Back in May, Living Vehicle announced it was developing a trailer for the Tesla Cybertruck. The Living Vehicle CyberTrailer’s renders definitely matched the rolling refrigerator aesthetic of the Cybertruck, but the company didn’t give out much more information at the time. Now, we know more about the CyberTrailer and perhaps more importantly, what it’s going to look like inside.
The Living Vehicle CyberTrailer starts off as a 27-foot aluminum-clad box that tries to mimic Tesla Cybertruck details, including the truck’s distinctive light bar. The company says it builds all of its RVs using an aluminum chassis, an aluminum structure, and even an aluminum floor. Living Vehicle has not indicated if the same construction techniques are being used here, but that’s what I would expect.
What we are told is that the CyberTrailer is designed to be four-season capable just like the company’s other trailers. In terms of environmental equipment, Living Vehicle says you’ll be able to equip your CyberTrailer with dual-pane glass, radiant floors, independent electric heaters, and multiple thermostats to achieve cozy interiors in cold weather. Living Vehicle says the CyberTrailer will be able to handle temperatures as low as -4 degrees Fahrenheit and up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit just like its bigger and heavier siblings.
Living Vehicle is also making pretty big claims with the CyberTrailer, saying:
The CyberTrailer is revolutionizing resource management by prioritizing creation over capacity. Instead of simply offering the largest battery pack or water tank, we focus on developing tech-focused innovative systems that produce regenerative resources while traveling off-grid. The goal is unlimited water production and endless energy creation, without utility connections.
What this means is that the CyberTrailer has 5 kW of solar panels on its roof. Like the trailer’s bigger siblings, there are so many solar panels on this thing that you fold the solar panels out and use them as awnings.
These solar panels top up a battery that Living Vehicle says will be up to 100 kWh in capacity. That does make me laugh a little about the claim of creation over capacity. The vast majority of RVs on the road have nowhere near 100 kWh of batteries.
With that said, the trailer really is built around the idea of self-sustainability. The company has been fitting Watergen atmospheric water generation systems to its larger trailers and the CyberTrailer is getting one of its own, too, from Living Vehicle:
The water generation system extracts up to 9 gallons daily from air, and works down to 20% humidity. Combined with advanced water recycling, including a 90% efficient shower system, it enables sustainable off-grid living without water hookups.
Weirdly, Living Vehicle doesn’t say anything about holding tanks just yet. The larger LV trailers have 100-gallon fresh tanks, 62-gallon gray tanks, and 45-gallon black tanks. Given the weight constraints of the CyberTrailer, I would expect smaller capacities to be used here, but I’m not sure how much smaller.
Let’s go back to that battery. Why does the trailer need a battery that huge? Like the aforementioned brands, Living Vehicle says it’s developing a drive system for this trailer so that it can help its tow vehicle along. Like those other trailers, Living Vehicle says the CyberTrailer will be able to help the tow vehicle pull it, regardless if it’s an EV or an ICE vehicle. The company doesn’t have any details about the drive system right now but says it’ll combine with the trailer’s coefficient of drag of 0.39 to save an EV’s range or to help a half-ton ICE truck maintain somewhat decent mpg.
When your CyberTrailer is parked, you can use its hookups to charge your EV at Level 2 speeds or to power other gadgets. If for whatever reason you do blast through that 100 kWh battery, Living Vehicle says there are other means to top up the trailer including a generator or a special alternator installed into an ICE tow vehicle.
Living Vehicle’s initial renders of the CyberTrailer didn’t show off any interior space. Now, the company has put the interior together and it seems pretty neat.
There are only 27 feet to work with here and no slides, so Living Vehicle decided to go for a convertible interior layout. In the center of the trailer is an area that serves up to six different roles depending on your needs. During the day the center of the trailer is a living room. You can modify that room by then either inserting a table into the floor to create a dinette or by attaching the table to the wall to create a two-person workstation.
At night, the living room can then be converted into a home theater complete with recliners. When it’s time to sleep, the living area converts into a bunk bed system for a sleeping capacity of up to five people. Finally, you can also move the furniture out of the way to create a loading area with tie-downs for two small electric dirt bikes. The rear patio converts into a ramp to facilitate getting the bikes onboard.
All of this is finished in high-quality materials. Living Vehicle says it’s using marble for countertops, marble in the shower, teak in the bathroom’s floor, real wood, and all-electric appliances. Equipment includes an induction cooktop, an electric oven, a dishwasher, Starlink internet, and a laundry facility. Other goodies include a 7-foot electrochromic skylight and a HEPA air filtration system.
Living Vehicle claims you’re going to get all of this at a base weight of just 5,000 pounds. Loaded, you’re looking at 9,000 pounds. So, it’s probably a good thing this trailer is going for high aero and an electric assist.
The company is targeting a release sometime in 2025 at a price of $175,000, but notes that everything you see here can be subject to change. Keep in mind that we don’t have anything to look at but renders and we’re only a couple of months from 2025. However, Living Vehicle has been good about putting its RVs into production, so I don’t think this will be vaporware.
In a weird way I’m happy the Cybertruck is getting its own trailers. I’ve seen Cybertrucks towing conventional campers and the differences in designs can get jarring. This looks like it’s meant to be towed behind a Cybertruck. I also like how Living Vehicle isn’t married to the Cybertruck, as the same systems that make it good for EVs would also make it good for ICE trucks.
Unfortunately, I’ve begun to question the self-propelled travel trailer concept. On one hand, these should do exactly as they say on the tin and preserve your EV’s range or maintain decent ICE mpg. On the other hand, now you’re adding even more complexity to your trip. Sure, you may now go well over 200 miles between recharging stops, but now you have to recharge two independent vehicles and our infrastructure just isn’t there yet.
So, I like the idea, but I’m not sure if it’s the solution we need. Until then, we’ll have to see which one of these trailers will work out.
(Images: Living Vehicle, unless otherwise noted.)
Dethleffs E.Home is quite a name. No relation to Detlef Schrempf.
Also, why use freaking marble countertops and balconies and shit? There are engineered options which can be much lighter and still look beautiful and it seems like they are actively trying to make the trailer as heavy as possible by any and all means
Coming soon to public lands near you, the worlds most annoying and tedious rich assholes
Is it weird my very first thought was “actually that’s not a bad price”
Look at what the camper industry has done to my brain!
cYbErJuNkTrAiLeR= ugly trash on fire…EV’s are junk…gasoline forever!
The sleeping setup on this is a joke
I can’t seem to log in, every time I log in it goes to the main page and signs me out, this happening to anyone else?
I see the self-propelled trailer as eventually becoming simpler and cheaper option in at least some cases.
All large trailers need brakes, right? And many of these large trailer owners have a generator, right?
Well instead of regular brakes and a generator, just have electric motors and a battery pack that replace the brakes and the need for a generator. And then solar would be an option for those who want indefinite run time.
And the motors on the trailer act as brakes and for helping with propulsion. Or have the option to turn off the propulsion except when the battery is nearly full so you’ll have a fully charged battery for things like lights or running a fridge when you get to your destination.
I predict this will be come more feasible in the future as BEV tech and solar panels get cheaper as production continues to scale up.
Interesting how cagey they are about details on the propulsive assist stuff, which to me is the one real interesting element. I wonder if they couldn’t add enough battery to make a meaningful improvement without overshooting the Cybertruck’s tow rating.
Having a balcony on a one storey trailer is just the stupidest waste of resources! Just sit on the ground FFS. Or in the truck bed, or make the rood flat so you can climb up there.
Also having your dirt (!) bikes in there, right next to the white sofas…
For $175k I want to be sitting on a balcony that is also a toilet with full computerized washlet function. It also needs to have a vodka drip feeder and snack tray.
That’s a really decent solar set-up, and could source a fair chunk of power while being towed. I’d be interested to see how the whole thing works in unison, it could be genuinely effective.
And I also think any of these set-ups, given they likely spend a good 48 weeks of the year not used, hooked up to the home grid could offset a chunk of the cost.
Pebble specifically markets their trailer as an ADU that can occasionally be an RV for this very reason.
This seems like the perfect application for a hydrogen fuel cell, use the hydrogen to charge the battery and make water!
And I know what you are thinking smart thoughtful Autopian reader “where you gonna get the H?”
A hydrogen generator! RV’s sit around all the time, use those massive solar panels to top off the H tank for the next trip.
Why stop there? Use your Cybertruck to tow a lighter than air Zeppelin, live in the gondola, make electricity and water from the hydrogen. Obligatory “oh the humanity”.
Other than the Cybertruck that sounds like a great idea!
“Put it in H!”
Maybe I’m missing something but wouldn’t it be easier to just use the trailer battery as a charger for the tow vehicle vs trying to make a trailer with wheel motors?
It was mentioned on a previous article about one of these pointless monstrosities that most EVs can’t charge and drive at the same time.
Seems an over expensive, rapidly depreciating toy for EV fans to ‘rough it’ in. Fits the overpriced EV template perfectly.
Colour me doubtful about the weight they’re claiming.
I can’t see a 100kw battery coming in under 2000 pounds. Axles and motor will probably come in 500-1000 lbs. Etc., etc.
Keep in mind that Living Vehicle is claiming “up to 100 kWh” for the battery there. So, I bet the base model would have a much smaller battery and the 100 kWh monster is closer to the 9,000 pound gross weight.
Apologies for the not quite directly related comment here, but just a reminder: Screw Elon and screw Tesla. At this point, even charging your EV might be putting money directly in a certain candidates pocket. And I certainly can’t be the only one who feels this way.
Normal people can build cars. Normal people can build rockets. Any fool can dig a hole in the ground.
Depends on where you are, digging a hole here takes a herculean effort.
It’s easier to teach astronauts to dig a hole than it is to teach oil drillers to be astronauts.
Digging is good hole is extremely hard. Why do you think so many people are murdered and buried in shallow graves? Even when it comes to the single most important hole you can ever dig, people are like “2 feet? Eh, good enough.”
I hope I could eventually see one of these in the wild. Sure it’d be easy too as everyone around it would be crashed after getting distracted gawking at it.
Off topic, unless they rolled the site update back without saying anything, the homepage and articles are loading even slower for me than they were previously.
Seems like the perfect setup to park at Burning Man. Assuming you can find a charge point halfway between Santa Clara and Black Rock.
Gross but true. It’s hard to believe Burning Man used to be about self-expression and the rejection of corporatism and capitalism.
Ohhh – CyberVaporware!
Then again – it has nothing to do with Elmo, so it may actually have a chance of becoming an actual production thing on time and close to budget…
Why marble? Couldnt you use something lighter?
I mean, fancy i guess.
Rich Corinthian Vinyl just doesn’t have the same panache.
This is a simple thing to cut weight from. (Commercial construction background coming to the rescue again.) The marble can be installed with a honeycomb backer to allow for a beautiful finish, although not very resistant to ketchup or mustard. It will have the same strength, same look, and just as easy to crack as 10mm marble if you drop cast iron on it. Most marble on high rises are either 3mm or 6mm stone which have been applied to honeycomb. All the look without any of the weight.
https://stonesizepanels.com/what-is-honeycomb
Unless it can distill water from the black water tank I’m out
What parts of the camper will make you bleed?
The price.
Judging by how pricey campers and RVs seem to be in general (thanks to Mercedes’ coverage), the price doesn’t seem THAT bad. And man, that’s something I never expected to say about a camper costing nearly $200k.
I also meant it as especially in relation to the Cybertruck, judging by the cost of most accessories for it. You think they’d be able to gouge your average Cybercustomer for a lot more Cyberbucks.
I’m hopefully going to be in the market for a house in the next few months, and my budget will be less than the combo of this trailer and a cybertruck to match. Anyone who spends actual house money on this rolling 2-piece stainless dumpster will get every bit of attention from me they crave, it just won’t the positive kind of attention.
Unfortunately, there are lots of places in the US now where $300K is not actual house money. It might be townhouse money, but not single family house money. Which is not a commentary on your opinions, but instead a commentary on the current state of things.
So sad, yet so true. This is one of the reasons I’m probably still going to be in Illinois for a while. You can get a cute little house for $150k-ish if you don’t mind doing upgrades yourself and having farms for neighbors.
Edit: There was a 3-bay firehouse converted into a house for that price. I’m still sad I wasn’t able to snag that one up.
3-bay firehouse is code for very large garage with attached apartment.
So perfect for Mercedes.
Yep, I regularly laugh at how 10 years ago, over $200k seemed like a lot for a house, and now anything under $1m seems like a deal, although a good part of that is moving close to a ski area. Feels more like monopoly money than reality at this point.