Too expensive fuel: motorhomes will drive less this summer

Obviously, the deadly combination of rising fuel prices, inflation, shortages of raw materials and longer delivery times is not enough to erase the euphoria born of the lifting of health constraints and the ‘opening of the borders. Because the French want to roll – at all costs. Last year, the consequences of the health crisis prompted a record number of our compatriots to buy the motorhome of their dreams: more than 100,000 of these houses on wheels were registered in the space of 12 months. Unheard of, with an increase of 23% over one year (or even 49% for less expensive fitted vans).

Never have so many French people acquired a motorhome than last year: inevitably, they want to take advantage of it this summer

Inevitably, it burns to all these motorhomes to embark on the roads to take advantage of the lifting of the latest health restrictions. The only brake on this enthusiasm is the rise in the price of fuel, of which “82% consider that it represents an obstacle for their movements”, reveals the recent opinion survey conducted by Camping-Car Park among 4,000 motorhome owners. More than half of respondents plan to “stay longer in the same reception area”, while 41% plan to do “fewer stages”, and 16% to stay in their region of residence.

However, price inflation is not enough to discourage all motorhome users from crossing our country’s borders. If they were 98% last year to spend their holidays in France, they should only be 82% this summer. A remarkably high proportion when you know how voraciously the engine of these houses on wheels can swallow fuel (from 10 liters to 30 liters per hundred kilometers on average, depending on the elevation and speed).

By way of comparison, the rise in fuel prices will have a “significant impact” on the choice of their destination of only 39% of French people who will be content with their car to travel this summer (source: YouGov survey for Bip&Go). However, 69% of them admit that this inflation will have an impact on their vacation budget.

Motorhome owners don’t just bring problems: they help keep businesses alive

The motorhome owners questioned confirm that it is indeed because of the drop in their purchasing power (35%) that they will resign themselves to favoring France. Among the other motivations, in order, comes the “destination loyalty” (12%), then the “willingness to support traders and contribute to economic recovery” (16%). Remember that the UNI VDL (Leisure Vehicles Union) estimates that more than 1.3 billion euros the economic contribution of motorhome owners to the French economy during the summer season alone. A couple of motorhome owners are deemed to spend an average of 56 euros per day: 44 euros for local economic actors and 12 euros for their accommodation. Nothing negligible, then.

Read alsoMotorhome and campervan: the reasons for the craze

For the time being, therefore, the clouds are not darkening the sky for recreational vehicles too much. As proof, leisure vehicle professionals report continued strong demand, at the start of the year, both for the rental and for the acquisition of a vehicle – whether it is a simple fitted out van or of a more sophisticated motorhome. Founded in 2006, the Hunyvers group (which distributes no less than forty-five brands of new and used vehicles) thus reports “strong growth” in sales during the first half.

“The enthusiasm of the French for leisure vehicles is confirmed”, note for their part the organizers of the show that they dedicate to them each year (next edition: from September 24 to October 02, 2022). “For 2022, it is the caravan market which could create the surprise with an increase of 15% between March 2021 and March 2022”, reports UNI VDL. It is not the manufacturers who will say the opposite, they who are betting that the forced conversion of the car fleet to electric traction does not mean the death of the small house in tow.

A caravan halves the range of the electric car that tows it

At the beginning, however, the game seemed to be off to a bad start. For a long time, fitting a tow hook was prohibited on most cars with purely electric motors. Reasons given: sometimes, the lack of space, quite simply; more often, the importance of the additional energy required to tow a heavy load. It would have been necessary to increase the capacity of the battery tenfold to make its size, mass and cost unreasonable, invoked the manufacturers. The capacity of the braking by regenerative energy like that of the battery cooling system should have been revised upwards, too. Because for their validation tests, the manufacturers choose to climb the highest passes, in the middle of a heat wave, facing the sun and at very low speed. Worst case scenario.

Read alsoIs my car suffering from the heat wave?

However, manufacturers know that fitting a towbar is essential if they want to impose the electric car in the role of the sole car of the household — particularly in the Netherlands and Great Britain, where the caravan remains very popular. Simply, the motorist should expect a very significant increase in the amount of energy consumed, with a collapse in autonomy between two charges due to the double handicap of the mass and the increase in resistance to advancement (tyres and aerodynamics).

The idea that is emerging among caravan manufacturers is to ensure that the trailer contributes to the tractive effort. The American Airstream (Thor Industries group) thus unveiled in January 2022 the prototype of its eStream caravan which embeds its own lithium-ion battery and a pair of motors – a solution developed by the German equipment manufacturer ZF, which also supplies this system. to his compatriot Dethleffs (Erwin Hymer Group). Presented in May 2020, the Dethleffs E. Home Coco caravan managed during tests to preserve the autonomy of the Audi eTron Quattro to which it was hitched.

Soon, the caravan full of batteries, to preserve autonomy

Another American manufacturer — Colorado Teardrops — proposes to embed no less than 75 kWh of electrical energy in the floor of its caravan to serve as range extender to the vehicle towing it. Its battery serves as a stationary charger, in regions where fast terminals are rare. A very appreciable asset, even though motorhomes are reputed to be in less of a hurry than the average and able to calmly endure refueling that drags on.

The downside is elsewhere. The marketing of these trailers seems to come up against the additional cost of the accumulators. Same thing with the 100% electric motorhome: the kilowatt-hour of the lithium battery is still too high to make it an economically viable proposition. The prototypes follow one another (such as that of Dethleffs presented in 2017) but nothing materializes. Case to follow.