CityFreighter and Vöhringer have shown a fully integrated electric motorhome demonstrator at the Caravan Salon. The vehicle is 6.95 m long, carries a 128 kWh battery and, according to the developers, covered 430 km in a practical test.
Design and weight
The body is shaped like a water drop: 2 m wide at the front, 2.35 m in the middle and 2 m at the rear. The ready-to-drive vehicle weighs around 3.5 tonnes, which leaves a payload of about 750 kg against a permissible gross weight of 4.25 tonnes for electric vehicles. The complete interior, including the heat pump and fridge, weighs only around 600 kg. Instead of a classic chassis, CityFreighter uses a low-floor platform just 350 to 400 mm above the ground, so the battery sits protected in the floor and the centre of gravity is lower. The battery size can be adapted to the use case, and the battery space is designed so that later cell generations can be fitted in a few years without rebuilding the chassis.
Plans
According to Michael Schöning, everyday travel needs less an extreme range than a coherent mix of around 400 km of real-world range and fast charging at at least 200 kW. CityFreighter sees the project as a feasibility proof for the industry and wants to bring together partners from the supply chain and conversion sector; talks with large motorhome manufacturers are still to come. The team gives a cautious horizon of the end of 2028 for a first small or pilot series, which will initially go on the road as a test fleet with partners. The price should end up in a similar league to today's combustion models; to achieve this, CityFreighter is considering splitting production, with the chassis or bare cabin built in Asia and final assembly and conversion in Europe.