Hybrid VW California heats the van all night · VanLife Weekly #45

Last week Volkswagen opened UK orders for the updated California camper van, whose hybrid version can heat or cool the cabin for up to eight hours while parked. In France, mountain areas once again require winter tyres or chains until the end of March. In Spain, Caravanas Osito has closed, leaving buyers who had paid around €3.5 million without their vehicles. And in the French department of Allier, a motorhome stopover sits next to a field of shaggy Highland cattle.

Hybrid VW California heats the cabin for up to 8 hours when parked

The California, Volkswagen’s camper van built on the large Multivan people carrier, has been updated. On 4 November Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles UK announced prices and opened orders, with first deliveries in early 2027. The van is just over 5.1 m long and under 2 m high, so it fits a standard parking space and gets under many height barriers. Many owners use it as an everyday car.

There are two versions: a 150 hp diesel and the eHybrid 4MOTION, a four-wheel-drive plug-in hybrid with a petrol engine, an electric motor and a battery you charge from a socket. The main new feature for overnight stays comes only with the hybrid. With the van parked and the engine off, the hybrid’s battery can run the air conditioning or cabin heating for up to 8 hours. On electricity alone the hybrid covers about 85 km, and on the move the petrol engine tops up the battery. There are three trim levels. Beach has a mini kitchen and a manual pop-up roof, Coast has a full kitchen and a fridge, and Ocean has an electric roof and climate control. Inside there is now a 12.9-inch screen, which also controls the camping functions. The sliding doors and tailgate now close electrically.

In the UK, prices start at £66,334 including VAT for the Beach diesel. The Beach hybrid costs £74,637 and the top Ocean hybrid £87,970. No prices for Germany or other European countries were announced this week. To keep a camper van warm at night without the engine running, owners usually fit a separate diesel or gas heater. In the hybrid California, the same battery that drives the van heats the cabin.

Number of the week: −2.04% on petrol prices

That was the median change in petrol prices across the 27 EU countries between our checks on 31 October and 8 November: half the countries saw a bigger change, half a smaller one. Petrol got cheaper in 25 of the 27 countries, the fourth week in a row of falling prices. Since mid-October the price of a litre has fallen from €2.18 to €2.05 in Germany, from €1.85 to €1.70 in Austria and from 7.25 to 6.31 zloty in Poland. Diesel barely moved over the same week, with a median change of −0.21%: it got cheaper in 18 countries and dearer in 9. The biggest fall was in France, where a litre now costs €2.27, down from €2.39 a week earlier.

If you drive a petrol camper van south from Germany through Austria, fill up in Austria: filling an 80-litre tank costs about €28 less there than in Germany. If you drive a diesel through France to Spain, a full 80-litre tank in France is now about €9 cheaper than a week ago. Diesel in Spain costs €1.93 a litre, though, so it still pays to wait and fill up there. We update prices for every country each weekend on our “Fuel prices” page.

In brief

• USA, Seattle · partly signed: two weeks ago we reported that the city council had passed five bills on people living in RVs on the city’s streets. Mayor Katie Wilson has now signed four of them and vetoed the fifth, which would have required RV dwellers to get a permit from the city. Instead, she has ordered two supervised parking sites to open, with room for 182 people between them.
• Netherlands, who decides what counts as a motorhome · adopted, takes effect 1 January 2027: the tax office will stop checking a motorhome’s fittings against its own rules and will rely only on registration with the RDW, the national vehicle authority. At present a vehicle can be a motorhome for the RDW but not for the tax office, and the owner pays tax as if it were an ordinary car.
• Bulgaria, motorhome stopovers · planned: tourism minister Ilin Dimitrov has promised to select at least 100 sites by the end of 2027 for motorhome stopovers and service points for fresh water and waste disposal. The state will build them between 2028 and 2030. The minister says Bulgaria should become a country where motorhomers stop, not one they just drive through.
• Kia PV5, camper vans: More and more converters are turning Kia’s small electric van into a camper van. In Australia, KombiLife has launched the Weekender, with all-terrain tyres and a bull bar at the front. In the UK, converter Wellhouse Leisure has fitted two double beds and a kitchen into a van 4.69 m long and 1.99 m high, low enough for underground car parks.
• USA, holidays: according to a survey by the industry body RVIA, 11.4 million Americans will travel by RV over Thanksgiving and 11.2 million at Christmas. Of those planning a winter RV trip, 63% chose it because it works out cheaper, and 69% will take their pets.
• Netherlands, used motorhomes: according to the Campee platform, the average price of a used motorhome fell by 6.3% in October, to €59,950. During the month 1,636 vehicles were listed for sale and 370 were sold. Manners magazine puts this down to higher running costs for motorhomes in 2026, including winter storage.
• Spain, Toledo · proposal: under draft city rules on traffic and parking, motorhomes would be allowed to park on the street for up to 72 hours a week. Emptying waste water in the street, putting out an awning and making noise would be banned. The city still has no dedicated motorhome stopover: the council has been looking for a suitable plot for more than three years.
• Japan, camper vans for earthquake relief: on 4–5 November Japan’s Cabinet Office tested how a camper van could work as a base for its staff after a major earthquake, in the city of Shingu (Wakayama prefecture). The test used a Recvee van with air conditioning, a shower, a 7.2 kWh battery and water purification, designed for 2–3 volunteers over three days of work.

Where to go

Greece, November to March. After the 2025 changes to Greece’s camping law, many motorhomers were unsure whether they could sleep in their vehicle there at all. Now there is an answer: the Hellenic Police headquarters replied to a request from the country’s motorhome owners’ association in a letter dated 7 July 2026. It says that being inside a motorhome parked where parking is allowed does not break the camping ban, including at night. The police treat signs of a camp outside the vehicle as a breach: a table and chairs set out, an awning unrolled, belongings on the pavement or the beach. If you have long wanted to tour Greece by motorhome in winter but worried about fines for sleeping in the van, keep everything inside and park only where parking is allowed.

Watch out

• France, mountain areas · in force 1 November to 31 March: in mountain areas of 34 departments in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Vosges, the Jura, the Massif Central and Corsica, a motorhome must run on four tyres marked 3PMSF (the mountain and snowflake symbol) or carry chains or snow socks for at least the two driven wheels. An M+S marking without the mountain and snowflake symbol is not enough. Road signs mark where these zones begin and end. Check the marking on your tyre sidewalls before you travel.
• Spain, Valencia: the showrooms of Caravanas Osito, which sold motorhomes, camper vans and caravans, have closed. Buyers have counted 62 cases where a vehicle was paid for but never delivered: each paid between €50,000 and €130,000, around €3.5 million in total. Complaints have been filed with the Guardia Civil, one of Spain’s police forces. If you buy a motorhome from a dealer, do not hand over the full amount until the vehicle is registered in your name.
• Germany and South Korea, carbon monoxide: on 2 November in Oy-Mittelberg (Bavaria), four people were poisoned by carbon monoxide while sleeping in a camper van at a motorhome stopover. A 70-year-old man was found unconscious, all four were taken to hospital and their dog was treated at a vet clinic. Police are still investigating where the gas came from. In South Korea the same week, a 51-year-old man was found dead in a camper van, and police suspect carbon monoxide poisoning. Now that the cold has arrived, fit a carbon monoxide alarm in your vehicle and only use a heater approved for use inside it.
• Croatia, motorway tolls · adopted, takes effect 1 March 2027: motorways will switch to Crolibertas, a barrier-free toll system, and vehicles will have to be registered in it in advance. For motorhomes over 3.5 t, an ENC on-board toll unit becomes compulsory. The fine is €120 for each unregistered journey. If you are heading to Croatia in spring, register with Crolibertas before you go.

This week’s calendar: 9–15 November

• 11–15 November, Le Thou (France): the Expo Camping-Car 17 show (17 is the number of the Charente-Maritime department) at the motor museum, with around 150 motorhomes, camper vans and caravans. Tickets cost €3, free if you register online.
• 11–15 November, Lyon (France): CAP Mobile, a new show at the Eurexpo exhibition centre, with more than 300 motorhomes and camper vans.
• 12–16 November, Besançon (France): the 19th Camping-Cars Folies show, with more than 180 new and used motorhomes and camper vans. Entry is free with registration.
• 12–15 November, Soyons (France): Les Automnales du camping-car, a show by two local dealers with more than 100 vehicles from 16 brands. Entry is free.
• 13–15 November, Montichiari (Italy): Turismo Natura, a show about nature travel and outdoor activities at the Centro Fiera del Garda exhibition centre.
• 13–15 November, Kubinka (Russia): “Poekhali”, a show of travel and leisure vehicles at the Patriot Expo exhibition centre.
• 14–15 November, Bordeaux (France): the second Vanlife Expo, a show of camper vans and van kit. Tickets cost €10, free for children under 15.

One last good thing

Two stories worth passing on.

From a mortgaged flat to a £4,800 caravan. At 28, Eva Outram from Leeds was a project manager in the NHS earning £38,000 a year, and most of it went on the mortgage and bills. After 23 days alone in the Canadian wilderness on the TV show Alone, she let out her flat in August 2024, and she and her partner Tom bought a caravan for £4,800. The couple now live on farms and work a few hours a week in exchange for a pitch for the caravan. Eva says that together they save around £2,500 a month and she has no plans to go back to her old life.

Neighbours with long fringes. In the village of Saint-Pourçain-sur-Besbre in the Allier department, Pierre-Baptiste, who owns a herd of Highland cattle, opened a motorhome stopover next to their field so that travellers could see the shaggy cows. The stopover sits on a bend of the river Besbre, has 48 pitches and is open all year, at €12 a night. It has electricity, drinking water, waste disposal, showers, barbecue areas and a pétanque court.