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A young all-electric RV startup called Lightship looks to turn a lucrative yet stale segment in recreational mobility on its ear beginning today with the official debut of its L1 electric travel trailer. This purpose-built design is loaded with modern day innovations in aerodynamics, electric efficiency, and renewable energy could not only disrupt the RV industry, but truly change the way we approach the camping experience using an all-electric, sustainable eco system. Not to mention it looks sleek as hell. Be sure to check out the full launch video from Lightship below.

Lightship is a San Francisco, CA and Boulder, Colorado-based startup that describes itself as the first all-electric RV company designing battery-powered trailers for the inevitable electrified age of mobility. It was founded in 2020 by Ben Parker and Toby Kraus – two industry veterans with notable tenures at Tesla as well as other electrified innovators like Proterra.

The original premise of a complete ground-up redesign of the RV for the electric age started where many great ideas stem from, the stomach. Cofounder Ben Parker was frequenting the food trucks outside of Tesla while working as a battery engineer on the Model 3, and noticed the nasty emissions from gas and propane generators pouring out of each truck and into the next.

It was there that the idea for an electric RV was seeded, as Parker left Tesla at the start of the pandemic to embark on a 6,000 mile journey across the US to soul search and speak with RV owners along the way to identify the current wants and needs of a $140 billion a year industry.

After incorporating the Lightship brand from the road, Parker soon connected with Kraus, who had also worked extensively at Tesla and shared an interest in bringing similar, environmentally conscious technologies to new industries in support a cleaner future for his children and beyond.

From there, the cofounders sought to take their knowledge of disruption and holistic design learned at companies like Tesla in order to apply it to the RV industry. Parker explained:

One in 10 American families own an RV, but the RV industry hasn’t experienced innovation for decades. Inefficient, unreliable product designs and a power experience that relies on smelly, noisy, gas or propane generators fundamentally hinder the amazing experience of traveling in the outdoors.

Lightship looks to change all that beginning today with the official unveiling of its L1 electric RV trailer at SXSW. This travel trailer is not only unique its aerodynamic modular design, but is also equipped with its own all-electric powertrain and battery pack, alleviating the towing capacity for the vehicle in front it, allowing owners to driver further and more efficiently without having to recharge as much.

Lightship’s electric trailer could revolutionize the RV industry

After three years of development, Lightship officially shared its flagship L1 electric RV with the public this morning, kicking off the potential dawn of a new age of recreational mobility should the travel trailer reach production.

As you can see in the images above, the L1 is a clean-sheet approach to the traditional RV, focusing on hyper-efficiency while being towed before transforming into a spacious camping space offering complete ecosystem of battery powered amenities.

The 27-foot trailer measures 8.5 feet wide and can power its height up and down from 6 feet 9 inches in road mode to ten feet tall when parked in camp mode, offering the capability to sleep 4-6 people. Being sleek and spacious is one thing, but the performance of this electric RV is truly unique and should be an enormous selling point to consumers, whether they’re towing it with an EV or a combustion vehicle.

The L1 itself is equipped with its own electric powertrain and 80 kWh battery pack (Lightship is not sharing its battery supplier at this time). As a result, the trailer propels itself behind the towing vehicle, offering near-zero range loss. That means a 300 mile range electric pickup towing the 7,500 pound (when fully loaded) L1 will maintain near full estimated range. In fact, Lightship’s cofounders told us that combustion trucks towing the L1 actually gained fuel efficiency in certain cases thanks to the trailers advanced aero. Score! (Those drivers still should go all-EV though, just sayin’.)

A huge thorn in the side of current electric truck owners is the extensive range losses when towing – up to two-thirds in many cases. By keeping the force behind the towing vehicle near-zero as much as possible, Lightship owners will someday be able to take longer road trips without stopping to recharge, or reach their destinations with even more power to spare when camped. Lightship cofounder and CEO Ben Parker elaborated on this design approach in an interview with Electrek:

It’s a pretty rare and awesome chance we’ve gotten where there is an industry that hasn’t changed a ton for a few decades. It’s huge. There is the sort of product opportunity where given the state of the technology, if you don’t do a from-scratch approach here, you can’t make a product that meets all the specs you need it to. It can’t be long range enough, it won’t be lightweight enough. Only through a ground-up approach can you make an efficient enough product for it to also be cost effective enough that you can sell it at any volume.

There’s a catalyst too. Electric trucks are taking off. What do people do with trucks? They do truck stuff – they go towing. You literally can’t tow a traditional travel trailer for more than about 100 miles right now. People are not going to stop RV’ing, this is a massive pastime. So it’s the convergence, the sort of the confluence of a few things that makes this so cool.

Cool indeed. Know what else is cool? The power in the electric RV itself is further bolstered by solar panels across its large roof, offering up to an additional 3 kW of renewable power to support the amenities and appliances within the L1 without any reliance on gasoline or propane generators. Below are some renderings of the interior of Lightship’s L1.

  • Lightship
  • Lightship

When scheduled production begins in late 2024, Lightship expects to sell the L1 electric RV trailer at a starting price of $125,000. The cofounder shared this price point is by no means the top tier level in RVs and they are instead targeting consumers interested in a travel trailer similar to an Airstream. Lightship will instead offer a similarly priced, all-electric option that is three times more aerodynamic than the next best traditional trailer.

Furthermore, Lightship’s cofounders explained to us that the L1 can be sold for $118,400 after an available tax credit. Due to its price point, the L1 currently does not qualify for the traditional federal EV tax credit revamped in the recent Inflation Reduction Act.

It does, however, qualify as a dwelling. If you add solar and an electric battery to that dwelling, it can qualify for a separate program called the Solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) that usually applies to your house rather than the EV in your driveway. A nice little loophole there for Lightship and yet another huge selling point for potential consumers.

Lightship completed a Series A funding round last summer after an initial seed round before that, but cofounder and President Toby Kraus explained the startup will need more funding to get the L1 into scaled production:

There’s no doubt that we’re launching a complex manufactured hardware product, but we’ve been very capital efficient to date. We’ve spent less than 10 million dollars to get to the point we’re at and we’re very confident in our runway and we’re feeling good, but I think definitely, to get to capacitized production we will raise more money.

With its official launch today, the L1 electric RV trailer is available for reservations on the Lightship website for $500 down. Again, production is scheduled for late 2024. As we look to learn more about this exciting new spin on the RV industry, you can learn more about the Lightship L1 in the full launch video below.

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Tesla, Trump alliance falls apart – but there’s BIG news for electric semi fleets

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Tesla, Trump alliance falls apart – but there's BIG news for electric semi fleets

After a month off trying to wrap our heads around all the chaos surrounding EVs, solar, and everything else in Washington, we’re back with the biggest EV news stories of the day from Tesla, Ford, Volvo, and everyone else on today’s hiatus-busting episode of Quick Charge!

It just gets worse and worse for the Tesla true believers – especially those willing to put their money where Elon’s mouth is! One believer is set to lose nearly $50,000 betting on Tesla’s ability to deliver a Robotaxi service by the end of June (didn’t happen), and the controversial CEO’s most recent spat with President Trump had TSLA down nearly 5% in pre-morning trading.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.


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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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Hyundai is about to reveal a new EV and it could be the affordable IONIQ 2

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Hyundai is about to reveal a new EV and it could be the affordable IONIQ 2

Hyundai is getting ready to shake things up. A new electric crossover SUV, likely the Hyundai IONIQ 2, is set to debut in the coming months. It will sit below the Kona Electric as Hyundai expands its entry-level EV lineup.

Is Hyundai launching the IONIQ 2 in 2026?

After launching the Inster late last year, Hyundai is already preparing to introduce a new entry-level EV in Europe.

Xavier Martinet, President and CEO of Hyundai Europe, confirmed that the new EV will be revealed “in the next few months.” It will be built in Europe and scheduled to go on sale in mid-2026.

Hyundai’s new electric crossover is expected to be a twin to the Kia EV2, which will likely arrive just ahead of it next year.

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It will be underpinned by the same E-GMP platform, which powers all IONIQ and Kia EV models (EV3, EV4, EV5, EV6, and EV9).

Like the Kia EV3, it will likely be available with either a 58.3 kWh or 81.4 kWh battery pack option. The former provides a WLTP range of 267 miles while the latter is rated with up to 372 miles. All trims are powered by a single electric motor at the front, producing 201 hp and 209 lb-ft of torque.

Kia-EV2
Kia EV2 Concept (Source: Kia)

Although it may share the same underpinnings as the EV2, Hyundai’s new entry-level EV will feature an advanced new software and infotainment system.

According to Autocar, the interior will represent a “step change” in terms of usability and features. The new system enables new functions, such as ambient lighting and sounds that adjust depending on the drive mode.

Hyundai-IONIQ-2-EV
Hyundai E&E tech platform powered by Pleos (Source: Hyundai)

It’s expected to showcase Hyundai’s powerful new Pleos software and infotainment system. As an end-to-end software platform, Pleos connects everything from the infotainment system (Pleos Connect) to the Vehicle Operating System (OS) and the cloud.

Pleos is set to power Hyundai’s upcoming software-defined vehicles (SDVs) with new features like autonomous driving and real-time data analysis.

Hyundai-new-Pleos-OS
Hyundai’s next-gen infotainment system powered by Pleos (Source: Hyundai)

As an Android-based system, Pleos Connect features a “smartphone-like UI” with new functions including multi-window viewing and an AI voice assistant.

The new electric crossover is expected to start at around €30,000 ($35,400), or slightly less than the Kia EV3, priced from €35,990 ($42,500). It will sit between the Inster and Kona Electric in Hyundai’s lineup.

Hyundai said that it would launch the first EV with its next-gen infotainment system in Q2 2026. Will it be the IONIQ 2? Hyundai is expected to unveil the new entry-level EV at IAA Mobility in September. Stay tuned for more info. We’ll keep you updated with the latest.

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Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready

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Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it's almost ready

Tesla has unveiled its lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) battery cell factory in Nevada and claims that it is nearly ready to start production.

Like several other automakers using LFP cells, Tesla relies heavily on Chinese manufacturers for its battery cell supply.

Tesla’s cheapest electric vehicles all utilize LFP cells, and its entire range of energy storage products, Megapacks and Powerwalls, also employ the more affordable LFP cell chemistry from Chinese manufacturers.

This reliance on Chinese manufacturers is less than ideal and particularly complicated for US automakers and battery pack manufacturers like Tesla, amid an ongoing trade war between the US and virtually the entire world, including China.

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As of last year, a 25% tariff already applied to battery cells from China, but this increased to more than 80% under Trump before he paused some tariffs on China. It remains unclear where they will end up by the time negotiations are complete and the trade war is resolved, but many expect it to be higher.

Prior to Trump taking power, Tesla had already planned to build a small LFP battery factory in the US to avoid the 25% tariffs.

The automaker had secured older manufacturing equipment from one of its battery cell suppliers, CATL, and planned to deploy it in the US for small-scale production.

Tesla has now released new images of the factory in Nevada and claimed that it is “nearing completion”:

Here are a few images from inside the factory (via Tesla):

Previous reporting stated that Tesla aims to produce about 10 GWh of LFP battery cells per year at the new factory.

The cells are expected to be used in Tesla’s Megapack, produced in the US. Tesla currently has a capacity to produce 40 GWh of Megapacks annually at its factory in California. The company is also working on a new Megapack factory in Texas.

Ford is also developing its own LFP battery cell factory in Michigan, but this facility is significantly larger, with a planned production capacity of 35 GWh.

Electrek’s Take

It’s nice to see this in the US. LFP was a US/Canada invention, with Arumugam Manthiram and John B. Goodenough doing much of the early work, and researchers in Quebec making several contributions to help with commercialization.

But China saw the potential early and invested heavily in volume manufacturing of LFP cells and it now dominates the market.

Tesla is now producing most of its vehicles with LFP cells and all its stationary energy storage products.

It makes sense to invest in your own production. However, Tesla is unlikely to catch up to BYD and CATL, which dominate LFP cell production.

The move will help Tesla avoid tariffs on a small percentage of its Megapacks produced in the US. Ford’s effort is more ambitious.

It’s worth noting that both Ford’s and Tesla’s LFP plants were planned before Trump’s tariffs, which have had limited success in bringing manufacturing back to the US.

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