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Mitsubishi Delica Camper
Electric Van Dilemma!
Several people recommended getting an electric vehicle for this project, so my friend Neutopia and I did some research on electric camper vans.
There are zero produced in the US…
Mitsubishi has a great electric camper, but it’s only sold in Scotland. Nissan has an electric camper, but it’s only sold in Spain. Tesla and VW have electric campers to be sold in the US… in 2022! So, currently there are NO electric vehicles available in the US from the manufacturer.
There are some great companies in the US that do electric conversions and hybrids for around $40,000. If I do it myself, a conversion is around $10,000 plus a used camper van runs about $10,000-$60,000. So on the cheap end it would be $20,000. And I’ll need to learn some electrical engineering along the way.
It might even be cheaper, better to buy a Nissan from Scotland and ship it over! Eco Explorer asks for £24,995 (around $32,625), plus shipping. With about 1,000 miles per tank might make it worth it.
No problem!
I’m surprised that there isn’t an electric camper market here in the US that they want to explore. We have a pretty avid RV culture, the retirement American dream, and #vanlife is thriving with a younger crowd too. John and Jayme of Gnomad Home has been traveling since 2017!
So, the ideal is to get an electric or hybrid van for this trip and somehow get sponsorship or grant money for it, but if I can’t raise the money or figure out the technology, I’m going to do this project regardless.
But wouldn’t it be nice to cruise around the country in an all electric or hybrid vehicle? Any suggestions on how to make that happen?
Love, Laura
In Search of the Great America 
VW keeps teasing us with press releases that they are going to re-introduce the VW micro-bus as a modern retro styled electric vehicle. That could be easily turned into a camper and give you coast-to-coast dealer support. The Euro only vans you mention are not importable to the US due to not meeting all the vehicle regulations we have. Ironic how people protest against de=regulation can be burned,
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Thanks for your thoughts.
I know! The VW ID Buzz is supposed to come out in 2022… we’ll see.
Looks pretty cool actually. 🙂
But too late for my purposes in any case. Oh, well. I’ll come up with something.
Any suggestions?
Cheers!
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