A facebook group?!?
Balls, how'd I miss that??
The story though, back 8 years ago I went down the path modifying MK4 TDIs for extreme fuel efficiency. It got to the point where I was spending summers randomly at a diesel college with similar minded people modding things out to the ends of the earth short of building a custom "road legal" vehicle. Long story short I have a (on diesel only) 104 mpg station wagon that I've ran on everything from natural gas, methanol, ammonia, propane, hydrous ethanol from cheap E85, Mild hybriding with BAS systems / wheel motors to outright alternator delete / run plug in lithium batteries from shucked laptop batteries I've been collecting from a scrap dealer. The project had to be tuned to the fuel but it was amazing... I traveled to the far reaches of Florida, Maine, Then northern wilds of Michigan where the fatal flaw of the project really emerged. The dang thing isn't big enough and hotels and other comfort infrastructure killed any economics of of getting triple digit fuel economy even when fuel is over $4 gallon. I have a tent that extends from wagon and everything, but it was too much to stay comfortable and capacity nearly maxed out for hills / needed even wider gearing and capacities for what I want.
At the time I was considering solar, and even a small EV as making your own fuel for travel and home just... beat everything by the math. Even my shop friends / other diesel modders are relenting to what can be done with electric if you have the shear batteries required. Well, I was lucky enough to find a cheap source of batteries and have almost enough to power a hybrid 330 or piggyback my home off the 330 + solar on the 330 &+ trailer...bonus will be I wont be taxed on home solar then to boot and can bring it anywhere I am. The plan evolved into a holistic solution to efficiency problems in home and travel. Add in a mix of modded generators (that can be easily worked on) extends range and utility significantly, or even am able to get the most out of campgrounds electric making travel even more affordable. The downside is the thing will be a turtle, however able to self charge slowly and "eventually get there...worst comes to worst" Plus its a guest house if I have family or friends visit from afar. Then you have all the tax benefits, RVs can be considered "an office" ... and also a work vehicle...the whole thing turns into a giant loophole. Usually the big boys end up like this:
Huge semi-rv, but I want something "mid-size" and able to swap parts, and able to tow and so on. I looked at building my own, but the way things are titled and insured it becomes majorly problematic vs just building. I found this out as I was in the starting process of buying a F550 4x4 crew cab wrecker / aluminum flatbed vehicle hauler to build off of. The red tape shot it down in flames, even registering / insuring it was a "yeah... that'll be $$$$$ commercial insurance" even as a build RV... So... it needs to have an RV VIN... and here we are... Host 330 lol, the only thing that can do 33k# or more depending and fit the bill. I need that capacity mainly for the 250kw of batteries that will be mounted in a number of places and even seperated tow trailer. Estimates come out to 800w-1.2kw per mile with any of the 2-3 motors I've been looking to use for the RV and trailer propulsion both, more or less depending on terrain and weather. Sure, "its out there", but so are the 104-160mpg vehicles I work on, even the 1000s mpg smaller ones. Least I'd be able to be comfortable after all the travel or even visiting places! lol
And seeing this post + you're going to be towing a Jeep has me mightly envious! lol That basically my GF & I's dream, she wants to take her jeep lol.