Say goodbye to noisy generators with EcoFlow’s power system.
Daylight saving. Labour Weekend. We’ve zipped past those signposts to summer and thousands of Kiwis will be prepping their motorhomes for trips up, down and across the motu.
From luxe apartments on wheels to the much-loved garage makeover of a Hiace, campervans have come a long way in the past few years. These days you can kick back beside a stream in the bush and stream box sets, cook Michelin-level meals on the induction hob, or fire up the hairdryer.
EcoFlow’s On-the-Road Power Solution allows roadtrippers to take their home comforts on any journey without the hassle of having to plug into a power source or rely on noisy generators or slow-charging 12V batteries.
The company’s 800W Alternator Charger draws energy from the vehicle’s alternator while you drive, topping up 1kWh in less than 90 minutes. With the Delta Pro portable power station, you can store up to 3.6kWh of surplus energy; enough to run 99% of everyday appliances.
Mounted on top of the vehicle, EcoFlow’s 400W Solar Panel can charge the power pack in the great outdoors or off-grid. Users can control charging, monitor appliances’ battery levels, temperature and energy activity on their phone, over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
EcoFlow says the system will charge a smartphone 360 times, power a light for 108 hours, a miniprojector for 43 hours, a coffee maker for 3.3 hours, electric grill for 2.9 hours and a car fridge for 57-114 hours, depending on its size.
Matt Andrews and Dan Baxter, the duo behind Matt and Dan’s Campervans in Christchurch, not only rent RVs to some of the thousands of international and local tourists who hit our highways, they also convert off-the-lot vehicles into campervans with all the home comforts, quality fittings and sleek design.
Andrews is a fan. He says EcoFlow’s advantages are that it’s an all-in-one system rather than the piecemeal, No 8 wire jobs they had to cobble together in the early days of their business; it’s compact – vital in the space-hungry confines of a campervan; and the cost is highly competitive with own-builds or other products.
“For 90% of the people that we deal with, this unit will cover all their needs. If people come back and say, ‘I’m using more higher wattage appliances and more power than I thought,’ we can easily – or they can do it – throw another battery in and double or triple their capacity.
“The other advantage is that the EcoFlow units are controllable from your phone, which gives you monitoring so you can switch various systems on and off and plan your power use. And their app is very user-friendly.
“We’ve got a wide range of people coming to us, people who are in the weeds about tech stuff, they just want it to work. So long as they’re used to using apps on their phone, they’ll find it very simple. But it’s really nice to be able to switch things on and off from your phone, monitor how much battery you’ve got left or how much charge you’re receiving.”
It’s also meant, he says, that motorhome-owners can ditch gas bottles, cookers and heaters. “We are trying to move away from gas because it’s cumbersome and potentially dangerous, it’s messy and you have to have a fan running.”
Andrews says the portable power station is changing the way owners think about their campervan power sources. “Historically people would throw power banks into a car or whatever and have that as a battery backup. Now you have the advantage of the portable power bank which charges off the vehicle’s alternator when the van is running.
“Pretty much every build that we put out, we try to include solar with it. We advise the customer that at least two sources of charging is helpful, and solar is good because most people are travelling in the summer.”
He highlights a major cost-benefit: future-proofing. “It’s removable, so if you have another vehicle, you can take it out and have the same wiring set-up in the second vehicle, so you don’t have to pay for two systems. If you sell the vehicle, you don’t have to sell it with the power system included.”
Given events over the past few years, there’s another somewhat unexpected bonus to owning an EcoFlow portable power station, and Andrews has personal experience of it.
“We have one in the back of our car, which we run a little fridge on. The power went out at the house not too long ago and I was like, ‘Cool, it’s charged up, I’ll go and get that,’ and I brought it up and we used it as our power source. It’s very helpful just to have that little thought in the back of your head.”
For more information
· Guide: How to outfit a DIY campervan
· What size generator do I need to run my RV?