"How long can I stay off grid?" is the question we hear more than any other. The honest answer is that it depends on how you camp, the weather and where you park. Anyone who gives you one number, or says "unlimited", is guessing. What we can do is show you how the numbers work, and tell you which figures we have measured on our own vans and which are estimates.
Think of it as a bank account
Your battery is the account. Solar, driving and mains power are deposits. Everything you switch on is a withdrawal. You can stay off grid for as long as deposits keep up with withdrawals, plus whatever you had in the account when you arrived.
The account: your battery
Every TRAKKA runs a 48V lithium system. The Jabiru, Akuna and Torino carry 5.12kWh as standard, with a 10.24kWh option, and the longer Jabiru layouts can go to 15.36kWh. The Trakkadu pop top carries 2.05kWh, with a 5.12kWh option. Kilowatt hours are the fair way to compare batteries. For reference, 10.24kWh at 48V is the same energy as an 800Ah battery at 12V.
A 48V system also delivers power more easily. The inverter supplies 4,000W continuously, enough to run induction cooking, the convection microwave and air conditioning without mains power and without gas on board.
Deposits: where energy comes from
- Solar. 800W of roof solar is standard on the Jabiru, Akuna and Torino, with larger options. Output depends on sun angle, cloud, heat and shade, so a parked van under trees can harvest a fraction of what it does in the open.
- Driving. The alternator charges the house battery while you drive, so a two-hour drive between camps is a real top-up.
- Mains and generators. A powered site refills the battery quickly. A small generator is a sensible back-up for long stays in bad weather.
Withdrawals: where it goes
- The fridge runs all day and night, so it is the steady background load.
- Hot water. In our testing, heating the 15L system from cold took about 23 minutes and about 0.6kWh.
- Cooking on induction uses a lot of power but only for minutes at a time.
- Air conditioning is the biggest load by far. Running it for hours on battery alone uses a large share of even a big battery, which is why battery size matters most to people who camp in heat.
- Small things add up. Leaving the 240V outlets switched on with nothing plugged in still draws power all day and night, roughly 20W or more. Switch them off when you do not need them.
Tips from our service team
- Run 12V devices such as a CPAP machine from 12V rather than leaving the 240V inverter on overnight.
- For heating, a diesel heater is the most efficient option. Save battery for the things only electricity can do.
- An angled portable solar panel can harvest more than flat roof panels when the sun is low. Our current portable option is a 400W panel matched to the power system. Some older third-party portable panels run at a higher voltage than the system's solar input is designed to accept, so check with us before you plug in any other panel.
- Lithium batteries charge more slowly when they are cold. In alpine conditions, plan on more driving charge and less solar.
- Storing the van? Charge it to near full and switch the outputs off. As a guide, a 5.12kWh system should then hold for about two weeks. That is an estimate, not a test result, so plug in or check it if storage runs longer.
So how long, really?
In fair weather, with the big loads such as heating on diesel and with good solar harvest, longer-term off-grid camping is realistic. Hot weather with air conditioning overnight, or a week of cloud under trees, shortens it. If heat is your plan, look closely at the larger battery options.
Our off-grid calculator
We are building an off-grid calculator that models a trip: your model, the kind of trip and the sun hours where you are going. Rather than one promised number, it gives a typical and a conservative estimate, because real trips vary. We are checking it against measured results on our own vans. Some inputs, such as hot water heating, have been measured. Others, including solar, the fridge, induction cooking and air conditioning, are still being tested. When the results line up we will make it available so you can model your own trips before you choose a battery.
Want to talk through how you camp? Get in touch, or build and price a Jabiru and compare the battery options.