Greetings.
I am planning, within maybe a year or so, to drop a chunk of change on an EV truck and to install a camper from a lightweight custom topper shell (ie, not a slide-in), with a bed in a cab-over format.
As part of this, I will of course need to charge the EV, since I will live off its power abilities, for example to cook, cool, and to work remotely. Since I will be based in the Arizona area for much of the year, it has great sun, and maybe even the potential for some wind energy.
While I could just drive to towns and find a charger, I'd greatly prefer to use the solar and possibly some wind energy to put power back into the truck, even if it's only a mile or two worth per day. It's worth it to me if I plan to be parked for up to 14 to 21 days at a time, limited mainly by my fresh water supply.
Any solar system I construct will need to have the guts contained inside the camper, and the panels would preferably be mounted on top of it, with maybe some on the sides or even on the ground if it could all be hooked together.
How many panels could I fit onto the top and sides of a truck about the size of a Ford F-150, with a camper about this big? How much power could I reasonably generate? I couldn't find dimensions online, but a good example camper shell is the OVRLND pop top camper. Weight is obviously at a premium here, so the lighter, the better. I have a weight budget of about 100 pounds in this stage of the build.
I am planning, within maybe a year or so, to drop a chunk of change on an EV truck and to install a camper from a lightweight custom topper shell (ie, not a slide-in), with a bed in a cab-over format.
As part of this, I will of course need to charge the EV, since I will live off its power abilities, for example to cook, cool, and to work remotely. Since I will be based in the Arizona area for much of the year, it has great sun, and maybe even the potential for some wind energy.
While I could just drive to towns and find a charger, I'd greatly prefer to use the solar and possibly some wind energy to put power back into the truck, even if it's only a mile or two worth per day. It's worth it to me if I plan to be parked for up to 14 to 21 days at a time, limited mainly by my fresh water supply.
Any solar system I construct will need to have the guts contained inside the camper, and the panels would preferably be mounted on top of it, with maybe some on the sides or even on the ground if it could all be hooked together.
How many panels could I fit onto the top and sides of a truck about the size of a Ford F-150, with a camper about this big? How much power could I reasonably generate? I couldn't find dimensions online, but a good example camper shell is the OVRLND pop top camper. Weight is obviously at a premium here, so the lighter, the better. I have a weight budget of about 100 pounds in this stage of the build.