Thor Forums

[TurnerFam]

yes, typical Cummins/Allison setup as currently in most diesels... but the triple deck of 24 batteries and their weight would offset the current weight of the generator... Gas units could use the area where their generator currently sits, or move it to a triple slider deck underneath the rear, similar to where the engine sits in a diesel.

A 'Tesla' type coach might be in the future, but I'm looking at why manufacturers don't seem as if they are yet considering an 'Solar' based coach, at least as an option. I know that I'm oversimplifying things here, and I'm not a Solar engineer for sure, but I can see that if the thoughts switched from a 50aShore/10kwGenerator based coach to a 3000wSolar base coach, the factory might have a viable option for those who want to go that direction - no longer relying on Shore power or Generator, at least as a primary electrical source.

There MUST be enough storage - 24 batteries that are typical to today's 4 batteries would provide 8 times the storage capacity. If I currently have 4 x 200amp hours x 50% capacity of use, then 8 times that would give me a tremendous amount of TIME off-grid, even without considering the incoming wattage from the panels that can be used instantly with a Hybrid Inverter system, allowing the overflow to continue to provide charging to the battery bank.
The question of how to power large draw items, typically air conditioners, is going to be everyone's big concern. Is it possible. Yes. The reason we don't run our a/c units through our Inverters now is because no one has the battery capacity to hold enough amp hours to make it reasonable to use them for continuous hours as we expect, or even sometimes 24hours a day. But, if you have enough battery storage/capacity, enough incoming amperage to keep the batteries charged, and enough Inverter capability to handle the amperage during the high points of the day, it's feasible.

Like any power source, though, there are potential 'end points': Shore power can be lost. The Generator can run out of fuel. The sun may not be out.

There will always be 'some' drawback to any power source, but we've relied so long on Shore power and Generator power that we still look at Solar as the 'option', instead of looking at it in a new light as the PRIMARY power source, using the others as 'back ups'.