Tag Archives: Automotive

Deflatable drone capable of flying over 10 hours could be the next big leap in operational efficiency

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The DJI Mavic 4 Pro can fly for around 50 minutes before needing a recharge, but are those numbers sufficient for a drone tasked with surveillance of hundreds of kilometers of pipeline or sensitive zones spanning miles? Nor is there any viable solution for monitoring disaster-struck areas that are too risky for manned flights. The next best option is low-flying unmanned airplanes or VTOLs, but the costs involved are way too high for such tasks.

This prompted French aerospace startup Celeste Ecoflyers to design an inflatable fixed-wing aircraft drone that comes tagged with the promise of superior safety and efficiency. Christened daS10, the 8-meter fixed-wing aircraft has a “pressurized textile envelope” and a pneumatic wing that generates lift thanks to the inflated structure. The design ensures the drone can stay in the air for longer without taking up a lot of energy.

Designer: Celeste Ecoflyers

The unmanned craft can be deflated and stored easily in flat form, which makes it highly deployable in any kind of situation. This unique idea comes from the CEO, engineer, and founder Olivier Manette, who happens to be a licensed ULM flight instructor. daS10 is currently in the development stage and recently conducted the initial low-altitude flight tests that lasted a few seconds. More tests are scheduled for Q4 of this year, which will bring it closer to the intended results. When fully operational, the fixed-wing drone can cruise at speeds of up to 50 mph for more than 10 hours in a sortie. That surpasses the JOUAV CW-30E, which can operate for around 480 minutes with a range of 200 kms from base.

This 8-meter fixed-wing drone is targeted towards commercial operations that require safety and more sustainable logistics. For instance, surveillance of pipelines or energy grids requires a more affordable approach than current solutions. Just for reference, a helicopter flight to inspect a pipeline costs around $2,500 per hour, and this doesn’t include the costs of the pilot or fuel. Also, bad weather and pilot availability can cancel one-fourth of the scheduled flights, hampering the overall operations. This aircraft, capable of generating aerodynamic lift sans any buoyant systems and carrying a payload of 11 lbs, is the ideal replacement for traditional options.

The biggest USP of the daS10 drone is the deflatable wing, which can fold and compress into a smaller volume for easy transportability. That will come in very handy for military operations as well, which require movement of logistics in remote regions. Though it is still early days for the drone, and a lot more engineering challenges lie ahead when it comes to fully scaled flights, the results could be revolutionary for the aviation industry heading towards automation.

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This Porsche F1 Livery Concept imagines a Grid Entry based on the 963 Endurance Racer

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Porsche has spent the better part of a decade circling Formula 1 without ever quite committing. Talks with Red Bull Powertrains collapsed in 2022 over control of the technical partnership, and the Volkswagen Group’s own boardroom politics have kept the brand on the sidelines ever since. Every couple of years a leak surfaces, a testing mule gets photographed in disguise livery, and the paddock spends a news cycle speculating before Porsche quietly denies everything. It is the kind of will they, won’t they that has defined Porsche’s motorsport ambitions since Zuffenhausen dabbled in F1 engines back in the 1980s with McLaren. Riccardo Dessi and

William Almkvist decided to stop waiting for an answer and build one themselves.
Their Porsche F1 Livery Concept imagines what a potential grid entry might actually look like, rendered with enough polish that it could pass for a factory reveal. Dessi modeled the car, Almkvist handled the texturing and environment work in Substance Painter and Photoshop, and the pairing borrows its color identity directly from Porsche’s current 963 endurance racer. Purple, black, and white blocks wrap the sidepods and nose in diagonal splits, with TAG Heuer, Mobil 1, AT&T, and ABB branding filling out the sponsor real estate. The result reads less like fan art and more like a livery Porsche’s own marketing department left on the cutting room floor.

Designers: Riccardo Dessi, William Almkvist

Endurance liveries get generous surfacing to play with, long doors, wide flanks, an expansive rear deck, but an F1 chassis offers almost none of that. Every panel is compressed, sculpted around cooling ducts and aero surfaces that leave no room for a clean graphic sweep. Instead of shrinking the 963’s purple gradient into a single stripe, they let it fracture across the nose, halo, and sidepod undercuts, so the color still reads as one continuous idea even when the bodywork it sits on is broken into a dozen different planes. That is a harder design problem than it looks, and it is the detail that separates this from a livery slapped onto a stock F1 render.

The front wing and endplates carry the most convincing sponsor logic in the whole package. TAG Heuer’s watch branding sits on the rear wing exactly where Porsche’s factory partnership already places it in endurance racing, and ABB occupies the same lower corner of the front wing it holds in Porsche’s Formula E program. Mobil 1 and AT&T split the sidepod real estate in a layout that mirrors how those sponsors actually appear on liveries across other series Porsche competes in. None of it reads as invented. It reads as a studio simply extending relationships Porsche already has into a category it has not yet joined, which is exactly the kind of restraint that makes a concept convincing instead of decorative.

Almkvist’s staging does as much work as the model itself. One set of renders places the car under raking violet studio light, its carbon weave catching hard directional shadows across a matte floor that feels closer to a livery launch event than a personal render project. A second environment fractures the background into shattered glass panels that scatter rainbow reflections across the bodywork, letting the purple gradient pick up secondary color shifts the way it would under real trackside lighting rigs. That second setting is not just a flex of Substance Painter’s capabilities. It gives the surfacing a sense of material behavior, showing how the paint would actually respond to inconsistent light rather than presenting a single flat hero shot.

Whether Porsche ever lands a Formula 1 seat remains an open question the brand has answered with silence for years. What Dessi and Almkvist have proven is that the visual case for it already exists, fully formed and sitting in a render queue, waiting for the boardroom to catch up. The 963’s purple and black identity translates cleanly enough across categories that it barely reads as a stretch, which says as much about the strength of Porsche’s current design language as it does about the two designers who ported it over. If the manufacturer ever does show up on the 2026 grid or whatever season follows it, its marketing team could do worse than start here.

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This elastic band-powered car proves you don’t need an engine to experience real mechanical thrills

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Kinetic energy is a fascinating thing, a fact I first realized after becoming obsessed with pull-back toy cars as a child. The simple act of rolling the car backward to store energy before watching it shoot forward at surprising speed felt almost magical. I didn’t understand the physics back then, but I knew there was something immensely satisfying about turning stored energy into motion.

Tell that to James Bruton, and you’ve got an engineering challenge rather than a toy. The inventive YouTuber is back with another delightfully unconventional experiment, this time asking whether a vehicle can be powered entirely by elastic bands. Not the thin rubber bands you’d find in a desk drawer, but heavy-duty resistance bands designed for fitness training, capable of storing far more energy than their humble appearance suggests.

Designer: James Bruton

Bruton begins by building a test rig from industrial 4040 aluminum extrusions to understand how much energy these bands can store when twisted rather than stretched. The setup uses inexpensive Lazy Susan thrust bearings to let the mechanism rotate with minimal friction while a single resistance band is wound tighter and tighter. The initial tests prove surprisingly encouraging, with the band accepting dozens of twists before reaching its limit, hinting that there may be enough stored energy to propel a person.

Turning that potential into useful motion, however, proves far more complicated. A pair of 3D-printed bevel gears delivers a 2:1 reduction to increase torque before driving a set of lightweight wheels. The prototype manages to move Bruton, but only for a couple of meters before the band eventually snaps under excessive winding. Rather than dismissing the concept, he treats the failure as valuable data, redesigning the drivetrain with an additional reduction stage that increases the overall ratio to 6:1. The improvement isn’t dramatic in terms of distance. Still, it delivers smoother power without permanently deforming the elastic band, confirming that gearing plays a bigger role than simply storing more energy.

The next logical step is to increase the amount of stored energy itself. Instead of making the vehicle impractically long with one giant elastic band, Bruton develops an ingenious routing system that sends multiple bands back and forth through the chassis using intermeshing gears. CNC-machined aluminum brackets, industrial extrusions, custom 3D-printed components, and dozens of modified bearings come together to create a rigid frame capable of containing the enormous twisting forces generated by the growing elastic drivetrain.

Experiments with six bands connected in series reveal an unexpected lesson in physics. While the system stores more energy, it doesn’t produce a proportional increase in usable torque, leaving much of the stored potential untapped. Rather than forcing the design to work, Bruton completely rethinks the layout by arranging eighteen resistance bands into three parallel columns, each feeding a common output shaft through bevel gears. The configuration increases available torque while preserving a useful amount of unwinding time, striking a far better balance between power and efficiency.

After countless iterations, careful winding, and more than a few anxious moments trying not to snap another band, the elastic-powered machine finally delivers the result Bruton had been chasing. The vehicle carries him almost 10 meters on nothing more than the energy stored in twisted resistance bands, with a best run measuring just under 9.9 meters before a final all-out attempt stretches that distance beyond 12 meters. It may not be replacing electric drivetrains anytime soon, but that’s hardly the point.

 

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You can finally own the upside down driving Spéirling Pure electric hypercar

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McMurtry Automotive has been showing off its prototype electric car for some years now. The record-breaking Spéirling hyper track car, capable of racing upside down like a Formula-1 car, really turned eyeballs and caught much attention. Now, the thing is legit for the public roads, as the British electric hypercar manufacturer has revealed the production version of the electric version of the car. Called the Spéirling Pure, this hypercar is slated to cost around $1.3 million when it goes on sale later this year.

This production version has some valid changes to make it road legal and, more importantly, road viable for purists who want to experience the thrill of driving a powerful EV. Just like the prototype version, the Spéirling Pure EV can drive upside down thanks to the Downforce-on-Demand fan-based system, which can produce a surprising amount of downforce courtesy of the high-speed fans running at up to 23,000 rpm. This is assisted by the underbody extended skirt system that keeps the car glued to the surface like a vacuum pump.

Designer: McMurtry Automotive

Since the car has more downforce than the dry weight of 4,409 lb (even though 665 lb heavier than the prototype), it can literally be upside down like a bat in the standing position. That’s a very rare trick you can show off in the real world if you find a setting to make the car turn upside down. The massive 3G downforce comes in handy in tight chicanes and corners, virtually lending the hypercar superior traction control to carry more speed out of corners. On the production version of the car, the fan motor is improved with new blades, and the air compressor also gets an upgrade. Other major upgrades include the new 100-kWh battery pack (compared to the 60-kWh pack on the prototype) and a wider wheelbase, increased to 8 inches to 86.6 inches to make space for the larger battery unit.

Spéirling Pure feeds the battery power to the pair of electric motors that drive the rear wheels. The enhanced transmission translates all the energy into 986 horsepower for an acceleration to 60mph in just 1.6 seconds. The top speed hits 190 mph, and that downforce system helps keep the vehicle stable. This also helps in braking at high speeds as the suction power creates enough friction. The production version will also get a flexible suspension system, adaptive dampers, and a 20 percent higher ride height to conquer most motorable roads. The electric hypercar can be charged from 20 percent to almost full capacity in a mere 20 minutes, depending on the outlet it is being plugged into.

The upgrades follow on the inside with a motorsports-grade carbon-fiber monocoque for premium safety. Bodywork also gets a bump up in the form of a swan-neck rear wing above the trunk, refined headlight design, a second hinged door, and space for keeping a helmet or HANS device. The interior can be customized by the buyers in a plethora of options. For the thrill of experiencing racing, the hypercar comes with a F1-styled steering wheel and an instrument cluster on the digital display.

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Bürstner’s new modular Mercedes Sprinter RV offers privacy bedroom, and more living space

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Compact, luxury motorhomes with smart space-enhancing features really have a market of their own. This domain is dominated by Germany-based Bürstner, which surprised us first with the Habiton camper van last year. The concept van home debuted a modular interior layout that residents could change according to their requirements during the day or night. Now, continuing from where it began, the builder of comfortable and practical motorhomes has launched the Signature SMT model.

The interesting mobile home is based on a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis and has a layout that can have an open, unobstructed view or a privacy shutter along the kitchen, closing the rear bedroom when you are sharing the motorhome with friends or even members of the family. Since the entire concept of the interior is based on space-maximization and modularity, Signature made from fiberglass for a durable and lightweight form factor, features a raised roofline at the front.

Designer: Bürstner

This modification allows a drop-down bed to sit comfortably at the increased height. Below, you have the dinette that is formed by swiveling cabin seats and a bench across the aisle. The space here is naturally lit with a full-width skylight above. The transformable front lounge makes way for a 76 x 51-inch drop-down double bed at night. And when the daylight strikes and you’re leaving the bed, the ceiling bed retracts – disappearing completely from sight – opening the lounge area for dining and communication.

An option for a twin or queen bed (with springs and a comfort mattress) sleeping area is designated again toward the back of the cabin, with the modular kitchen and space-saving bathroom taking up the space in the middle. The bedroom features custom-designed back panels and a wardrobe for storing your clothing essentials. The Signature offers sleeping space for up to four people conveniently.

The premium, modular kitchen isn’t really designed to transform like the lounge or the bathroom (we will discuss in a bit), but it is designed with some interesting retractable options of its own to really zap the mind. The kitchen revolves around an induction hub in the center and two extendable worktops on either side of it. An electrically retractable shelf lifting straight up to the roof on the right shows your stored items, while a practical refrigerated drawer, featuring a 138L freezer compartment, finds place below the main countertop. When raised, the retractable shelf, in conjunction with a sliding door, doubles as a divider wall, allowing privacy in the bedroom behind.

Available in a choice of 735 and 766 cm lengths in white and stone-grey colors, the Signature motorhome comes with another interesting transforming space: the bathroom. It is placed right behind the driver and comes with a sliding front wall that retracts toward the Cassette toilet to store away the sink integrated into it. The space outside now is reserved for the shower, which the user can use without having to think of fitting into a small bathroom space already occupied by a fixed sink and toilet.

Designed to go where your camper van adventure demands, the Signature SMT is provided with a 150 Ah lithium battery, a 200-liter fresh water tank, and a diesel heating option. The pricing for the base 735 cm model starts at €93,999 (US$107,000), while the bigger 766 cm Signature would cost around $110,000.

 

 

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Polestar’s Sudden U.S. Exit Reveals the Hidden Risk of Buying a Connected Car

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Somewhere in Washington state, a man named D.L. Byron recently bought a certified pre-owned Polestar 2. He did what most careful buyers do, researched the brand, appreciated the Scandinavian design, weighed the range and the reputation, and made a considered decision. Then, within days of that purchase, Polestar announced it would stop selling new vehicles in the United States from the 2027 model year onward, after the U.S. Department of Commerce denied the Swedish automaker authorization under the Connected Vehicle Rule. Byron’s reaction, reported by The Verge, was immediate and unambiguous. “It feels like we’re the ones left holding the bag, with no compensation for the sudden loss in market value on cars we just bought or leased.”

What Byron experienced is becoming the defining anxiety of the connected-car era. A modern EV purchase comes bundled with software ecosystems, service networks, regulatory standing, and brand-dependent resale value, all of which can shift dramatically on a government decision, a quarterly earnings report, or a geopolitical pressure point that the buyer had no awareness of on signing day. The car itself may run perfectly fine for years. The broader infrastructure that gives it value, the OTA updates, the service continuity, the dealer footprint, and the market confidence of potential used-car buyers, operates on forces that have very little to do with how capable the vehicle actually is. Polestar owners in the U.S. are learning this the hard way, watching resale anxiety arrive before the service network has missed a single appointment, and the lesson extends well beyond this brand and this moment.

The Connected Vehicle Rule, finalized by the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security, targets vehicles with a “sufficient nexus” to China or Russia, covering telematics, cameras, GPS, Bluetooth, cellular modules, and automated driving systems. The software restrictions kick in at model year 2027 with hardware restrictions following in 2030. Polestar’s problem was never where its cars were built. The Polestar 3 is assembled in South Carolina alongside Volvos from the same Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, yet local manufacturing provided no shield from the authorization denial. The rule targets ownership structure and software entanglement, and Polestar’s Geely-majority ownership, combined with its reliance on the Geely ecosystem, gave the Bureau its grounds. Volvo, operating as a separately listed entity with a decoupled software stack and a more established U.S. footprint, secured a waiver. Polestar did not.

Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller positioned the retreat as forward strategy, noting that Europe accounts for the largest share of the brand’s sales, and the company’s messaging on owner support has been consistent: warranties honored, existing Polestar 2, 3, and 4 owners continuing to receive service, and remaining Polestar 3 and 4 inventory sold at an aggressive discount until stock runs out. The brand had warned as early as 2024 that the Connected Vehicle Rule could effectively block its U.S. sales, yet when the formal exit became official, it still landed hard for buyers who had only just signed their paperwork. Matthew Haiken, owner of Polestar Short Hills in New Jersey, captured the dealer position precisely: “At this point, I have to trust that Polestar will honor its warranty and service commitments. We deserve better. This is the first time that anyone has said, ‘Hey, this is not us. It’s outside our control. It’s the government.’ So we’re left very vulnerable.” The warranty is still valid on paper. Whether the used-car market reads the situation as generously is a separate question, and used-car buyers are rarely sentimental.

Buying a connected car in 2026 without evaluating the brand’s regulatory standing, software continuity, and commercial presence in your market is a gap that Polestar owners are now navigating in real time. Fisker’s collapse last year was the more total and immediate version of this lesson, and while Polestar’s situation is structurally different, the emotional experience for current owners is uncomfortably familiar. The Polestar 2, 3, and 4 are genuinely well-designed vehicles that many owners will hold onto for exactly that reason. But resale value is a market sentiment measure, and market sentiment on a brand that has exited your market corrects fast and waits for no one. Polestar’s predicament makes the broader case: every connected-car buyer should be stress-testing the brand’s software stack, regulatory profile, service infrastructure, and long-term commercial standing before they sign, and those variables matter as much as the range figure on the window sticker.

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This Kia PV5 Modular Camper Kit Disappears Completely When the Weekend Is Over

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Camper conversions usually leave a mark. Cabinets get bolted in, headroom gets swallowed by a pop top roof, and the donor vehicle spends the rest of its life looking and feeling like a camper even when it is just running errands. Dutch outfit Vantrack decided that trade off did not have to be permanent, at least not for the Kia PV5 Passenger. Its Lightcamp package turns the compact electric van into a four person mini camper on Friday and hands it back as a stock e-MPV on Monday, with almost nothing left behind to prove the transformation happened.

The trick lies in how little of the kit actually stays attached. A slide out kitchen, an inflatable sleeping platform, and a rooftop tent all come off in minutes, leaving only a fixed skylight as evidence anything changed. Vantrack plans to reveal the production version in September at the Netherlands’ Camper Trade Fair, with complete conversions starting around €65,000 based on the PV5 Passenger Essential trim.

Designer: Vantrack

The exterior graphics set the tone before you even open a door. Large, neat lettering spells out “LC LightCamp” along the flank, paired with a stark X logo that reads more like a Scandinavian furniture brand than a typical outdoor equipment maker. That restraint suits the PV5 itself, a van whose crisp panel lines and boxy proportions already look like they were drawn with a ruler. The single splash of orange canvas on the roof, visible from a drone shot as clearly as from the ground, keeps the whole package from feeling clinical. It is minimalism doing actual work, not just decoration for a trade show floor.

Vantrack’s real party trick sits at the tailgate. Instead of the thick, stacked foam mattress that most camper kits rely on, Lightcamp uses a slim pull out bed platform paired with two Exped Luxemat inflatable sleeping pads, each one rolling down to about 26 x 8 inches for storage underneath the platform itself. That frees up cargo space for gear rather than burying it under bedding. Below that platform rides the kitchen module, a compact unit with an induction cooktop, a bamboo cutting board, a small sink, and a Dometic Go faucet drawing from an 11-liter water canister. Slide it out on its own folding legs and it works as either a tailgate galley or a standalone cook station away from the van entirely.

Rather than fitting a heavy pop up roof, the company installed a fixed skylight that doubles as an access hatch into a rooftop tent it calls its Rooftop Architecture. The tent itself packs down small enough to sit on the rear of the roof rack, unfolding forward to create a two person sleeping area roughly 51 by 79 inches. That is lighter than a traditional pop top and, more importantly, it stays out of the way entirely when the tent gets pulled off for the off season. Vantrack has done similar rear cargo racks on its Volkswagen T6.1 builds, and Lightcamp borrows that same building block logic throughout.

None of this would matter much without a capable base vehicle underneath it. The PV5 Passenger’s Utility Mode lets owners tap the traction battery for climate control and V2L power while parked, running lights, a speaker, or a coffee maker without a separate leisure battery. Combined with a 256 mile WLTP range and 30 minute fast charging from 10 to 80 percent, the PV5 handles the drive to a campsite with more confidence than most dedicated camper vans manage on a full tank.

What makes Lightcamp worth watching is not any single component but the discipline behind leaving so much of it removable. Full pop top conversions commit an owner to a camper shaped life whether they are camping that week or not, while Vantrack’s kit lets the PV5 Passenger slide back into being an ordinary five seat van the moment the trip ends. Whether that modularity survives the jump from concept to the finished September reveal is the real question, but the underlying idea, that a camper should be something you deploy rather than something you permanently become, feels overdue.

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Airstream’s $64K World Traveler 17RB is a budget-friendly RV first-time campers have been waiting for

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Known once for its high-end, expensive silver-bodied trailers, Airstream has now unveiled its most affordable 17-foot travel trailer ever. The World Traveler 17RB undercuts Airstream’s previously attainable 16-foot Bambi trailer by a good $4,500 at $64,400. Airstream has already started the production of the new trailer, and its first deliveries are slated to happen later this year.

Even though the entry-level 17RB is designed for first-time buyers seeking a worthy entry point to start their family camping adventures, it is an equally compelling option for seasoned RV enthusiasts, since the trailer retains Airstream’s signature style and body despite the price.

Designer: Airstream

Airstream lifestyle has never been more affordable. With the entry-level World Traveler line, the new Airstream lineup for beginners, Airstream is making the lifestyle attainable, but without compromising its market position. The World Traveler 17RB is therefore built to exude the same style on the outside, while certain cost-limiting tweaks on the inside are what we shall get to in a bit.

Last year, Airstream launched a 22-foot model, which was lightweight enough to be towed by a wide range of vehicles. The 17RB, with its GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) of 3,500 lbs, is as lightweight as it can get. It follows the same approach of being easily towable by an SUV or even a smaller pickup truck like the Toyota Tacoma and Ford Maverick.

While the basics of the signature riveted aluminum body remain unperturbed on the outside, the new Airstream has its wrap-around windows on the back and front replaced with smaller, rectangular dual-pane acrylic windows. A manual awning attached to the 17RB’s body extends the living space slightly outside when needed. For other times, the interior of course, is well equipped.

The trailer’s Scandinavian-inspired interior is provided with white aluminum walls complemented by a choice of Sagebrush or Shoreline upholstery. The kitchen is the mainstay of the World Traveler 17RB travel trailer. Starting out it seems small, but to extend the space, it features an expandable countertop. On it, you get a two-burner gas stove and a sink. A 2.1-cubic-foot refrigerator is neatly tucked under the cabinetry. Airstream also provides an option to include a microwave in the setup.

Airstream has outfitted the 17RB with a 24-inch Smart TV and a JBL audio system for entertainment. It has a Truma Combi Eco Plus System for heating and hot water, while the air conditioner is located underneath, hiding the cooling with the use of ducts. A dinette located in the front section of the trailer can be converted into a bed for additional sleeping space. The main bedroom area, however, is placed in the rear where a fixed mattress is provided for a couple to sleep. Even though Airstream doesn’t market it as such, the 17RB travel trailer can be prepared for off-grid adventures with the inclusion of a 200W solar panel and an optional 2.5 kWh lithium battery pack.

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Airstream’s $64K World Traveler 17RB is a budget-friendly RV first-time campers have been waiting for

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Known once for its high-end, expensive silver-bodied trailers, Airstream has now unveiled its most affordable 17-foot travel trailer ever. The World Traveler 17RB undercuts Airstream’s previously attainable 16-foot Bambi trailer by a good $4,500 at $64,400. Airstream has already started the production of the new trailer, and its first deliveries are slated to happen later this year.

Even though the entry-level 17RB is designed for first-time buyers seeking a worthy entry point to start their family camping adventures, it is an equally compelling option for seasoned RV enthusiasts, since the trailer retains Airstream’s signature style and body despite the price.

Designer: Airstream

Airstream lifestyle has never been more affordable. With the entry-level World Traveler line, the new Airstream lineup for beginners, Airstream is making the lifestyle attainable, but without compromising its market position. The World Traveler 17RB is therefore built to exude the same style on the outside, while certain cost-limiting tweaks on the inside are what we shall get to in a bit.

Last year, Airstream launched a 22-foot model, which was lightweight enough to be towed by a wide range of vehicles. The 17RB, with its GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) of 3,500 lbs, is as lightweight as it can get. It follows the same approach of being easily towable by an SUV or even a smaller pickup truck like the Toyota Tacoma and Ford Maverick.

While the basics of the signature riveted aluminum body remain unperturbed on the outside, the new Airstream has its wrap-around windows on the back and front replaced with smaller, rectangular dual-pane acrylic windows. A manual awning attached to the 17RB’s body extends the living space slightly outside when needed. For other times, the interior of course, is well equipped.

The trailer’s Scandinavian-inspired interior is provided with white aluminum walls complemented by a choice of Sagebrush or Shoreline upholstery. The kitchen is the mainstay of the World Traveler 17RB travel trailer. Starting out it seems small, but to extend the space, it features an expandable countertop. On it, you get a two-burner gas stove and a sink. A 2.1-cubic-foot refrigerator is neatly tucked under the cabinetry. Airstream also provides an option to include a microwave in the setup.

Airstream has outfitted the 17RB with a 24-inch Smart TV and a JBL audio system for entertainment. It has a Truma Combi Eco Plus System for heating and hot water, while the air conditioner is located underneath, hiding the cooling with the use of ducts. A dinette located in the front section of the trailer can be converted into a bed for additional sleeping space. The main bedroom area, however, is placed in the rear where a fixed mattress is provided for a couple to sleep. Even though Airstream doesn’t market it as such, the 17RB travel trailer can be prepared for off-grid adventures with the inclusion of a 200W solar panel and an optional 2.5 kWh lithium battery pack.

The post Airstream’s $64K World Traveler 17RB is a budget-friendly RV first-time campers have been waiting for first appeared on Yanko Design.

New Aboard T4 self-propelled electric travel trailer is built for extended off-grid living

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Off-grid travel is not only a buzzword lately. It’s become a way of life. Perpetuated largely by tiny houses on wheels and RVs. Amid the latter, travel trailers have an edge. They live separately from their towing vehicle and tout independent proficiency. Thus, the new form factor of trailers is smarter and more capable than ever before. Such is the case with the recently launched T4 trailer developed by California-based Aboard RV. It is an off-grid rig with an appealing aerodynamic design and a size that neatly places it between a van home and a large motorhome.

The Aboard T4 electric trailer is anything but a traditional trailer. It features more glass in construction than others would dare to go with and combines automotive engineering with a hybrid electric drivetrain to leave us with a capable RV that none of us would want to miss a chance to get on board.

Designer: Aboard RV

Besides its aerodynamic form factor, the T4 is designed for off-grid adventures. It sits on a reinforced integrated chassis and has a built-in Extended-Range Electric Vehicle (EREV) powertrain. The powered axle system allows enough energy to steer the rig while climbing without creating additional load on the towing vehicle. This is because it is engineered as a fully integrated vehicle, allowing it to self-propel, straining the tow vehicle less to increase range and reduce drag.

The trailer is designed to be about 24 feet long, and it tips the scales at 6,500 lbs. Interestingly, the T4’s hybrid platform has more than 200kWh of onboard power. It features a 41 kWh LFP battery and a 60 kW range-extending generator. Together, extending the off-grid living capability of the trailer for more than a long weekend. The generator can recharge in under 30 minutes, substantially enough to keep your devices and equipment powered during time off the grid. The trailer can, if needed, power the electric tow vehicle as well.

The Aboard T4 electric travel trailer has a metal-paneled body and features car-like secure doors that ensure improved durability, while providing weather protection. The smoothly glazed exterior of this trailer seems completely fashioned with glass, but it’s when you enter that you realize the panoramic windows span only 270 degrees. It may not be as much as you believe it is from the outside, but windows are still enough to fill the interiors with natural light and surrounding views.

The interior space is centered around the kitchen and bathroom of the trailer, with two convertible lounges – on either side – transforming into bedrooms by night. The bathroom doubles as a mudroom accessible through two separate entries. The kitchen is equipped with an induction cooktop, refrigerator, microwave, and a lot of storage. Interestingly, the trailer is equipped with a 52-gallon fresh water tank and a 35-gallon grey water tank. Also, with a 30-gallon black water tank onboard, the trailer is fully prepared for off-grid stays. Designed to accommodate four people easily, the Aboard T4 travel trailer will be available starting at $80,000. There is no definite release date in sight, but the trailer can be reserved now for a fully refundable deposit of $100.

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