Car Camping in the LC250 Video
- Thread starter Trailman
- Start date
She does a nice job. And, we plan to camp in our LC FE. We have an Exped mattress that was initially designed for our Model Y Tesla. Should fit wonderfully in our new LC. Great video.
OP
OP
- Thread starter
- #4
If I'm reading this correctly, if you are camping inside the vehicle and you lock the vehicle using the door switches, the hybrid system should cycle on and off through the night and the 1 hour timer to shut off the hybrid system is disabled. Same if you lock the vehicle from the outside using the mechanical key. Lots of interesting use cases for the latter. Lose power at home and don't have a backup generator? The vehicle can be used as a backup generator. Wouldn't want to leave it in this mode for a really long time but in an emergency situation, I wonder how long a tank of gas could last cycling the hybrid system on and off...
Last edited:
That’s the way I read it and would allow use of power outlets for fans/ lights and maybe heater? Can’t wait to try it
That's a nice feature for locking from the inside, for camping etc. What scenario makes sense where you lock with the mechanical key from the outside but want the hybrid system to stay on?
OP
OP
- Thread starter
- #7
see my updated post. Could also see if you needed to leave a pet in the vehicle (wouldn't recommend it if it's really hot outside just in case the system shuts down) but there are a few use cases I can think of beyond just camping in the vehicle. Camping in a roof top tent or regular tent and you can have continuous power provided while you are outside the vehicle.
Looking forward to hearing everyone’s experience with this. Wonder if the cooling system can be run on the hybrid with the engine kicking in every so often to charge it. I know Tesla has a “camping mode” that will run cooling all night. I wonder which outlets are active, inverter, etc.?
It goes without saying, but this is still gasoline so gotta make sure it's vented to avoid carbon monoxide issues.
I've been following your sleeping platform build and really like the simplicity of it.
Have you been able to try sleeping with the the "camp mode" activated? I'm curious how functional that feature is and details like often the gas engine turns on and fuel usage. Thanks!
Went camping last week. Bought a standard SUV air mattress and it fit perfectly (8 inch). 6’1 and I could stretch out and fit. Had the seats folded down, so there was the lip between the seats and the back but with the air mattress really couldn’t notice it. Sister gave me a topper and maybe that helped but for sleeping one, it was very comfortable. I was surprised at the comfort being on the aged side.
We have run into issues at campgrounds in Colorado where they wouldn’t let us sleep in our Tesla Model Y (we sold that a few years ago). We were told that no car camping was allowed because we might die from carbon monoxide poisoning. They just couldn’t get it that a fully electric car wasn’t making any of that! This would not have been an issue if we were camping in the wilderness, without those kinds of rules. I will be very surprised if my new LC FE can keep heating during a wilderness camping trip while turned off.
The vehicle doesn't do anything when turned off. Heat is presumably produced by a heat pump driven by electric motor. With HVAC on the engine will run periodically to charge the hybrid battery that powers the HVAC.
Some campgrounds have rules to avoid attracting the homeless. It's likely that attaching a tent to the vehicle gets around any rules. An electric blanket powered by a power bank is almost always going to be better than running the vehicle all night. The large inverter in our vehicle easily recharges a power bank.
Not sure but I thought the campgrounds here in the northeast don’t allow you to run a car engine during the night due to noise concerns. Camping in the wilderness in a car is not really an option here as there is not much wilderness left in New England that would be accessible by car and remote enough so that nobody cares.
Any place that allows generators/AC allow engines to run.
It gets interesting in places that only prohibit generators. I wonder how the national park rules are written.
Anyways, running the vehicle overnight in a place that prohibits generators would be a jerk move regardless. Plus the on/off would disturb most peoples sleeping in the vehicle. So I find the video at the top of this thread overly optimistic.
In a Tesla or similar EV it's possible to sleep overnight with perfect climate control. Not in hybrids. What the LC provides with the large inverter is the ability to quickly charge a large house battery/power bank.
It gets interesting in places that only prohibit generators. I wonder how the national park rules are written.
Anyways, running the vehicle overnight in a place that prohibits generators would be a jerk move regardless. Plus the on/off would disturb most peoples sleeping in the vehicle. So I find the video at the top of this thread overly optimistic.
In a Tesla or similar EV it's possible to sleep overnight with perfect climate control. Not in hybrids. What the LC provides with the large inverter is the ability to quickly charge a large house battery/power bank.
