Hi, what are you looking for?
Egypt Has Opportunity To Gain Green Infrastructure While Hydrogen Hype Persists
How Solar Power Works | Can PV Cells Run Out of Electrons?
Algeria’s Hydrogen Export Hopes Will Be Crushed By Economics
Solar That Works Better In The Shade
CleanTechnica Tested: FlexSolar 200 Watt Briefcase Solar Panel Kit
Egypt Has Opportunity To Gain Green Infrastructure While Hydrogen Hype Persists
Algeria’s Hydrogen Export Hopes Will Be Crushed By Economics
Experts Forecast Wind Power Plant of the Future — Taller, Cheaper
Powering Australia Under New Leadership
Morocco Is A Green Leader & Might Get EU Hydrogen Balance Right
DOE Launches $84 Million Enhanced Geothermal Energy Systems (Video)
Renewable Generation Surpassed Nuclear in the U.S. Electric Power Sector in 2021
Betting A Billion Dollars On Low-Carbon Grid Transformation Tech
Mexico’s Clean Energy Ambitions Realistic With These Renewable Energy Resources
One of the Largest Climate-Tech Workforce Partnerships in US History, + More EV & Battery News
Jeff Dahn & The 100-Year Battery
Battery Policies & Incentives Database Helps U.S. Efforts to Build a Secure Electric Vehicle Battery Supply Chain
CleanTechnica Review: Fanttik X8 Air Compressor
Capturing Light From Heat At Record 40% Efficiency, NREL Makes Big Strides In Thermophotovoltaics
Gridspertise — Advanced Digital Solutions For A Smart, Resilient Grid
Betting A Billion Dollars On Low-Carbon Grid Transformation Tech
“Home of the Future” — Solar Power Home with Electric Ford F-150 Lightning Backup Power (Video)
Buzz Solutions Takes Out 50% Of Grid Inspection Image Effort & Duration
Bill Nussey of Freeing Energy Talks About His Chart-Topping New Book on Local Energy
Hyundai Built A Really Cool Efficient Camper Van
Automating The Secret Life Of Buildings: Interview With PassiveLogic CEO Part 1
Solar That Works Better In The Shade
Production F-150 Lightning Has More Power, Capacity, & Range Than Ford Promised
Carbureted V8 From the 1970s Gets 40+ MPG. Did Big Oil Really Rob Us For Decades?
Free Charging in New Zealand — Is Home Charging Even Needed?
Live Webinar: Ensuring A High Quality EV Charging Experience With NEVI
Highlights From Fully Charged Live UK 2022
How Ford Pro Is Leading Companies & Governments Into The EV Age
Hyundai Built A Really Cool Efficient Camper Van
CleanTechnica Tested: FlexSolar 200 Watt Briefcase Solar Panel Kit
CleanTechnica Review: Fanttik X8 Air Compressor
CleanTechnica Review: Hiboy VE1 Pro Electric Scooter
Electric Bike Maintenance: What I’ve Learned In 8 Years (Avoid The Mistakes I’ve Made)
Does the Tesla Full Self Driving Approach Have a See-saw Problem?
Tesla FSD Training — Garbage In, Garbage Out
China Electric Car Market — 29% Market Share In April!
Mitsubishi Tops EV Sales In Germany In April — Yes, Mitsubishi!
Fiat 500e Shines in 21% Plugin Share Market of France
33% Of New Cars Sold In Netherlands Now Plugin Cars
CleanTechnica Tested: FlexSolar 200 Watt Briefcase Solar Panel Kit
CleanTechnica Review: Fanttik X8 Air Compressor
CleanTechnica Review: Hiboy VE1 Pro Electric Scooter
Electric Bike Maintenance: What I’ve Learned In 8 Years (Avoid The Mistakes I’ve Made)
Does the Tesla Full Self Driving Approach Have a See-saw Problem?
Tesla Q4 Shareholder Conference Call — Watch & Listen Here
Volkswagen Group — In-Depth Conference Call Highlights Company’s Focus On Transition
Bill McKibben On Unions, Tesla, & Elon Musk — CleanTechnica Interview
How To Watch & Listen To Tesla Q3 Earnings Call — Most Useful Livestream
Tesla Sales & Future of Tesla Discussion with Ride the Lightning, Starman, & EVANNEX
A few weeks ago, Spanish-language website Motorpasión shared a really cool post showing us the Hyundia Staria Lounge Camper. While it’s not an EV (and thus wouldn’t normally be covered on CleanTechnica), it’s a very efficient vehicle that can normally carry a lot of passengers and/or cargo. Now, Hyundai has made a concept car showing that an RV doesn’t need to burn giant tanks of gas, and it shows us that upcoming EV vans have a lot more potential than people think for this sort of thing.
To make this happen, Hyundai had to do what most people do with camper vans: be very careful to make the most out of every cubic inch of space, often making spaces pull double duty. Things like tables and seats can transform to serve a variety of needs, from eating to sleeping, to just hanging out. This versatility means the overall vehicle can be a lot smaller (and thus get better EV range or gas mileage).
The Staria Lounge Camper’s interior can transform to fulfill a variety of roles during your camping day.
It also helps to make things expandable whenever possible. The pop-top roof (a common feature in old Westphalia VW Microbuses), a retractable awning, and even a table that comes out of the rear, all add up to mixing your living space with the great outdoors. So, you can use a relatively small vehicle as a true camper van instead of a “cramper van.”
The pop-top roof, awning, and slide-out table make the van feel a lot less crampy.
This small size doesn’t mean that the camper doesn’t come fully featured with the things you’d expect to see in a camper. For one, it has a small kitchen with a stove, efficient fridge, and sink. Sure, it’s small, but it gives you all of the same functionality as other campers.
This might seem only suitable for short camping trips, as you’d eventually want to get a shower, right? Well, not so much. The camper has that, too. There’s a hidden compartment with a showerhead and hot water. So, you’ll be able to get clean. But, you’ll probably want to bring a little shower privacy tent along unless you want to clean up in a swimsuit.
There’s only one downside: I don’t think they’re going to sell the vehicle in the United States. Commenters over at the original post are saying that they’ve seen them in Europe, though, including the camper version at some dealerships.
On the other hand, though, it’s still a gas or diesel vehicle. The more important thing about this vehicle is that it shows just how much functionality you can fit in a small space if you get creative. We need to be pushing EV manufacturers to either offer these sorts of camper vans themselves, or work with van upfitters to offer custom versions of their EVs in such a way as to be finance-able like other EVs (upfitting often costs tens of thousands of dollars).
It’s going to be difficult and expensive to offer full-sized RVs that run on electricity, but this is something that we can do with electric vehicles today.
All images by Hyundai Global.
Jennifer Sensiba is a long time efficient vehicle enthusiast, writer, and photographer. She grew up around a transmission shop, and has been experimenting with vehicle efficiency since she was 16 and drove a Pontiac Fiero. She likes to explore the Southwest US with her partner, kids, and animals. Follow her on Twitter for her latest articles and other random things: https://twitter.com/JenniferSensiba
#1 most loved electric vehicle, solar energy, and battery news & analysis site in the world. Support our work today!
Advertise with CleanTechnica to get your company in front of millions of monthly readers.
A recent article at CarScoops gives us some great news about EV sales so far in 2022! According to Experian, 158,689 EVs were registered...
Beverly Hills gets a first, a Faraday Future Flagship Brand Experience Center. Sysco plans to purchase 800 battery electric Freightliner eCascadias. For those and...
Hyundai plans new EV factories in South Korea.
With multiple crises raging (chips, batteries, covid, Ukraine war…), disruption is the order of the day, and one can say that anything goes right...
Copyright © 2021 CleanTechnica. The content produced by this site is for entertainment purposes only. Opinions and comments published on this site may not be sanctioned by and do not necessarily represent the views of CleanTechnica, its owners, sponsors, affiliates, or subsidiaries.