Today’s RV review is of the Bowlus Volterra, that company’s newer and slightly larger very high-end trailer that’s a bit of a tribute to the inspiration of the RVs built by Hawley Bowlus a century ago. There’s a lot to take in on this $310,000 trailer but first something that really annoys me - unsubstantiated claims.

The RV industry in general throws around a lot of claims. Words like “innovative” or “first ever” or all sorts of platitudes that can be easily disproven. And there’s one I see here - “first ever all-electric trailer.”

Apparently Bowlus RV folks haven’t been reading RVTravel nor my reviews because we all looked at the Palomino Revolve EV1 travel trailer over a year ago and, guess what? It was an all-electric travel trailer. In fact, while the Bowlus does have provisions for propane heating the Palomino did not. It is all electric all the time. Period. End of story.

That doesn’t discount the fact that the Bowlus has some very impressive features nor that it’s really a piece you either want or don’t. In some ways the Bowlus is like a SubZero refrigerator or Rolex watch. It’s a combination of art form and very well crafted parts and components and there absolutely are individuals who will appreciate that.

Off grid and solar

Since battery and solar are the features this model hangs its hat on, let’s look at that first. The Bowlus Volterra has two flexible solar panels on the roof which work to charge 17kWh of lithium batteries. That is a lot.

For example, the company claims that their air conditioner can run for 16 hours on battery power alone with an ambient (outside) temperature of 100°F. They claim that it can run for twice that length of time when the ambient temperature is 85°F.

There is also a 3,000 watt inverter installed which means you can run the induction cook top or really any of the items in this trailer from battery power alone.

I had described the Power Package system in my own trailer and this is almost four times as much battery power as what I have in my trailer, and our system is already impressive to me. To put that into perspective, as Mike Sokol said, that’s the equivalent of 14 100 amp hour lithium batteries.

Another interesting thing about the battery system in the Volterra is that the company claims that there’s enough power reserves aboard to provide an emergency charge to an EV and deliver a range of about 65 miles.

Details

Aside from an insane solar package, there’s a lot to like about this trailer. Like those Rolex watches and SubZero reefers, the details and parts on this are on a different level than what most of us are used to.

Instead of decals making the wood look nice, the wood is just wood. Nice wood. There are these “silent gravity” ceiling vents that seem almost marine to me. Even things like the tank monitors are better - they use “probeless” tank monitors which is likely the SeeLevel monitors.

Imagine your tank monitors working after the first use? Crazy, right? That alone may be worth the price of admission.

Another interesting bit in the interior are cargo management tracks in the door frames in the interior. If you want to bring things like eBikes or kayaks this makes a lot of sense - you can actually tie them down.

Often these aluminum cargo tracks can really stand out in a trailer but this one has so many aluminum and stainless steel features that the cargo tracks aren’t really something you might even notice.

There are teak pieces, very high quality upholstery and just an attention to detail with high-end materials throughout. Further, this trailer absolutely stands out from anything else including an Airstream. Yeah, yeah, they’re both riveted aluminum but the shape of this is almost cigar-like with both ends almost coming to a point.

Boondocking and travel access

Boondocking is sort of the whole point here with the monster quantity of battery power aboard. There are no slides in this trailer so you can get to anything at any time.

This model does have significantly more fresh water capacity than other Bowlus models with 50 gallons of fresh water aboard. There is 31 gallons of gray water storage as well and I’ve found I can go about three days with daily showers on a tank of this size.

Final thoughts

You can absolutely tell time with an AppleWatch or even an old Timex from the thrift store, quite frankly. But there is still enough of a market for a Rolex that the company remains in business. Part of that absolutely is to have a Rolex on your arm and show others.

I am absolutely not the customer for a Rolex. My parents’ Depression-era upbringing and thriftiness carried over to me.

But I can appreciate when things are built better and even differently. There are a few things about this trailer that I have been blathering on about including aerodynamics. While no RV is all that good aerodynamically, this one certainly is better than most. Far better.

Part of that is the fact that the air conditioner isn’t sticking up out of the roof nor is much of anything else. That absolutely helps.

The materials, build quality and finish on these is pretty impressive and I have seen one in a campground. This one is slightly larger and has much more tank capacity which is a plus. I also like the flexible interior design as well as the details.

But, it’s also a $310,000 trailer with a wet bath and that alone will be a deal breaker for some.

The company has shown that they’re willing to go out on a limb to create something different than then one-upped themselves and so many other RV manufacturers with a monster battery system. But there isn’t a tremendous amount of solar on the roof so your time off grid is potentially going to be affected by that.

The thing about this is that it may portend to what we see in the main stream at some point.

Remember there was a time when aerodynamic cars were a novelty and things like fuel injection, power windows and disk brakes were only on the most luxurious of vehicles.

Try to find any mainstream auto without those features today.

Battery systems that we think of as advanced and shapes that are aerodynamic are a novelty today but I don’t think that’ll be the case even five years from now. As demand for more efficient tow vehicles and even electric tow vehicles loom on the horizon a trailer like this makes a lot of sense.

Plus, let’s face it. It is kinda cool.