When you think of a caravan, the last thing you’d think of would be a drivetrain.
Typically, caravans are towed. They’re glorified trailers. A caravan with its own drivetrain would just be a motorhome, right?
At the 2022 Florida RV SuperShow, Airstream’s parent company Thor Industries revealed a caravan concept that has a dual-motor electric drivetrain, streamlining every step of the towing process.
The motors are remote-controlled and can maneuver the caravan into place. They also draw power from onboard lithium-ion batteries that power the trailer’s wheels, reducing the tow vehicle’s fuel consumption.
Thor says the Estream’s drivetrain improves its stability on the road too, although it didn’t share details on how this is done.
Once the vehicle is at its destination, the Estream can use its same remote-controlled powertrain to reverse and maneuver itself into place.
It can then be plugged into a local power supply when it’s stationary, or it can continue to draw power from its batteries to power onboard amenities (which, interestingly, includes Amazon’s Alexa).
Keyword: Watch: The caravan that can park itself with its own electric drivetrain