eStar's
Navistar International eStar
The eStar was first made in 2011 by a collaboration of Navistar International and Modec. These fully electric delivery vehicles were made with the help of a U.S. Department of Energy grant but in 2013 were discontinued as part of a corporate restructuring plan to focus on current profitability.
These vehicles are a great base to build our solar electric RV’s being that they are already electric, lightweight and have plenty of room to customize with all the camper comforts.
Joel Gregory Hayes and Route Del Sol
In June 2018 we built the first Fully Electric, Solar Powered RV for Joel Gregory Hayes and his project “Route Del Sol” (https://www.routedelsol.com/).
Joel and his travel partner Keegan are driving this vehicle on the Pan American Highway. Starting in Alaska and finishing in Argentina the vehicle will be charged on renewable energy (primarily harvested from sun).
This was an intense project completed in only two months with the whole team working around the clock to get it done before the weather turned in Alaska.
We added a secondary battery pack so that this vehicle will get up to 200 miles on a charge. We equipped it with our solar awning cassette, adding 6 KW of solar panels. We documented the whole build and you can watch those videos on our YouTube channel “Solarrolla” or in the link below. Be sure to subscribe to us so you can stay up to date with our latest projects!
Route Del Sol Social Media
To follow Route Del Sol on his journey visit his social media pages below.
Up Next…
Our next big project is another eStar RV. We will be adding 200kw-hr of lithium cells providing up to a 300 mile range. We will install 6kw of solar to this vehicle which will be able to pull up to 100 miles from the sun per day. The solar roof will track the sun for maximum exposure and solar harvesting.
The eStar will be a fully sustaining life support vehicle. With everything needed to travel comfortably and Eco-Friendly without the use of fossil fuels. It will be equipped with solar hot water, electrically incinerating toilet, A/C units,
and kitchen. The eStar will lift into a 2 story tinyhome providing an Upper and lower sleeping space to comfortably sleep four people.
Our ultimate goal is to take this vehicle on a National Parks Tour. We will highlight all of theses amazing places that are at risk if we do not change the way we travel and live. Bringing awareness to a solution that is not harming the planet but preserving it for future generations.
We already have the donor vehicle, batteries, motor and controller and are currently looking for Sponsors, Grants, etc. to help make this revolutionary vehicle a reality. Contact us below for more info.
