One electric travel trailer just wasn’t enough for Bowlus.
The California-based manufacturer has just announced that its entire lineup has gone battery-powered, making it the world’s first fully electric RV company. Starting Tuesday, you’ll be able to order an electric version of each of the brand’s three models—the Heritage, Terra Firma and, of course, the Volterra.
The move may seem sudden, especially since the electric-only Volterra just launched in August, but Bowlus has been heading this way for a while now. In fact, founder Geneva Long told Robb Report that this has been the goal since she brought the original riveted aluminum travel trailer maker back to life last decade.
“Since I restarted the company over 10 years ago, we’ve been envisioning what fully immersive luxury land travel looks like and we feel that all-electric has been part of that story,” she said. “With the launch of the Volterra last fall, we were finally able to realize what we’ve been working on for a really long time. We’re thrilled to extend that to the rest of the product offering.”
At the heart of all of Bowlus’s electric travel trailers is a power management system that pairs a lithium-ion battery pack (which the company has been using since 2016) with solar panels that can push capacity up to 17kWh. The setup is powerful enough to keep the RV and all its appliances, including an HVAC system, running for days at a time. Long told us that the entry-level Heritage can run on its own for a week, the Terra Firma for two and the Volterra indefinitely.
Part of the reason why the trailers’s power management system is so capable is that it doesn’t have to help the vehicle towing it. Each Bowlus model is aerodynamic and light enough that an EV, like the Rivian R1S or Tesla X, can tow it without its driving range being impacted too much. The company says that most EVs will get up to 70 percent of their typical range while towing one of the brand’s trailers. While the trailers don’t need to feed the EVs battery while in transit, they do feature a charging port for emergencies.
“We’re excited that Bowlus trailers can be towed by a huge range of these EVs for distances that are not going to impact a customer’s ability to enjoy land travel,” Long said.
So, who are the Bowlus trailers for? Those who love the looks and amenities of a classic luxury trailer but with an all-electric setup. If that sounds like you, you can go to Bowlus’s site now and put your name down for one of its trio of battery-powered models. The Heritage starts at $159,000, the Terra Firma at $285,000 and the Volterra at $310,000.
