Home on the range
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The last time I drove an electric campervan it was based on the Nissan e-NV200 van and had a realistic range of around 65 miles. Although its maker, probably rightly, was claiming a world first, it was always going have rather niche appeal. That was eight years ago, when EV sales in the UK were still a paltry 2,500 cars per annum. Now, one in five new car sales is a battery electric model.
Since 2014, however, diesel has still had near total domination in leisure vehicles, with just a handful of companies offering conversions of the electric Nissan (later with 124 miles range) and, more recently, the BEV (battery electric) versions of the Toyota Proace and Vauxhall Vivaro (each claiming up to 205 miles range). All are, of course, small pop-top campers; we’re still a long way from seeing viable electric motorhomes.
The latest arrival in the world of electric campers comes from Wheelhome – not surprising as its ’vans are usually super-compact (smaller, lighter vehicles are better suited to becoming EVs), and boss, Stephen Wheeler, is something of an electric evangelist. Not only a Tesla owner, he tows a Dashaway caravan (his own design) behind it and has now launched the company’s first fully electric campervan – the Vikenze III-e.
Based on the Vauxhall Combo-e Life, the
