This announcement by Airstream is potentially a very exciting development in the world of EV towing. I’ve been tracking that idea since a few years ago when Dethleffs in Europe announced the “e Coco” trailer which was the first RV trailer with a big battery pack and electrically driven wheels to make towing easier using technology from ZF, reducing energy usage for an ICE or an EV tow vehicle. See
Dethleffs e.home coco and
Towing with an EV: Are electric trailers the future?
But Dethleff’s has been slow to bring that trailer to market and there is no indication it will be available in North America. The Airstream eStream obviously will be sold here.
My biggest concern about the eStream is not that they won’t get the tech right, but that it will be twice as expensive as an Airstream of the same size and therefore the potential market will be very small. Airstreams are already very expensive for what you get. I am also concerned about the weight; Airstreams are extremely heavy compared to what I currently tow, a Safari Condo Alto. A comparably sized Alto is about 50% lighter and cheaper than an Airstream and the construction is higher quality. I am expecting the eStream to be well over US$100,000 and be up to three times the weight of my 2,200 lb (fully loaded) trailer. The eStream appears to be about 17-18 ft, which is a good size for my needs (my Alto is 17.5 ft) but in my opinion few are going to pay over around US$70K for such a small trailer. Keep in mind that a new Airstream Bambi 19 ft model is US$62K with no options.
I hope I am wrong about the eStream price, but knowing Airstream I’m afraid I will be right. And with a small market there won’t be any economy of scale like there is in the automobile industry to drive the cost down.
I would still seriously consider an eStream if they do a good job implementing the new tech and it is not inordinately heavy (but they will have to offer an interior design scheme that is not so offensive to the eyes as the one shown in that video ;-) . I was happy to see a Model X featured prominently in the video!
What I would really like to see is a new “pure electric” RV company come along with some truly innovative product offerings. The RV industry needs a Tesla-style disruption.