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Tuner Trucks: EarthRoamer, Ford F-450-based
Eco RV-in??RV camping without generators!
MARK VAUGHN
Published Date: 8/15/05
ON SALE: Now
BASE PRICE: $185,000
POWERTRAIN: 6.0-liter, 325-hp, 570-lb-ft V8; 4wd, five-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT: 13,500 lbs
0 TO 60 MPH: 20.9 seconds (est.)
earthroamer.com
Want to be able to watch DVDs on the flat-screen TV in your RV even after civilization ends? Imagine zapping a microwave burrito despite the loss of the entire conventional power grid and even outside the reach of handy RV-park full hookups.
How is this possible, you ask? EarthRoamer.
EarthRoamer specializes in campers that don?t need hookups. Heck, they don?t need anything except sunshine and an occasional diesel fix (even biodiesel). If you love the comforts of home and the beauty of nature but hate listening to someone?s putt-putting two-stroke generator blatting away until quiet time at 10 p.m., then call EarthRoamer.
Some things are RV-familiar?dual alternators pump back a couple hundred amps as you drive, so when you?re ready to camp you are fully charged. But that?s no different from any generic RV. Everything on this rig is maximized for efficiency and engineered to run on only electricity or diesel.
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If camping in one spot for a few days, the coffee table-sized super-efficient solar panels on the roof keep you charged and happy with 370 watts. Unlike most RVs, there are no leaking, exploding propane systems onboard and no nasty-loud generators. In really humid climates you might have to run the engine for a half-hour to keep the a/c going but, for the most part, ?Power is simply not a problem,? said EarthRoamer president Michele Connolly.
The ceramic stove runs on diesel heat (which could be biodiesel, too), filters let you slurp water into onboard tanks straight out of a running stream, and a bar-graph monitor scans all systems while the sun powers your own little onboard micro-grid.
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Fourteen EarthRoamers have been delivered, with plans for a total of 20 this year, 42 next year, and 128 a year by 2008 from the EarthRoamer production facility in Broomfield, Colorado. The drawback? Price.
Depending on how you configure it, a Ford F-450 or F-550-based EarthRoamer costs between $185,000 and $200,000. But you can?t put a price on freedom, man!
Pretty cool..It would be cool to have one if i went camping alot...I really like the part about not having to hook up to anything...Freedom rocks :rockon:
over 20 sec to 60! :o
Quoteover 20 sec to 60! :o
What time would you expect from a house? :rolleyes:
I've read about these in my Popular Mechanics, very cool.
Diesel stove, eh... an Army fishing boat built in 1952 I rode on recently had one of those too =P
QuoteQuoteover 20 sec to 60! :o
What time would you expect from a house? :rolleyes:
well, with all the shit it's carrying, i was expecting more like 35 sec.
Give me one! :praise:
QuoteQuoteQuoteover 20 sec to 60! :o
What time would you expect from a house? :rolleyes:
well, with all the shit it's carrying, i was expecting more like 35 sec.
I see, it sounded like you were being critical of such performance. Anyone have weight specs of this over a standard F-350?
The best part of this vehicle is that you dont have to hook it up at RV parks, etc. This would be quite a vehicle to own.