RV review - Living Vehicle travel trailer - different, well-built, pricey
Today’s RV review is of the Living Vehicle HD30 travel trailer. This is a very differently-made towable RV that offers very high quality build and systems but at a price that is as breathtaking as the execution. I got to walk through one of their trailers at this year’s Quartzsite Sports, Vacation and RV Show and it was interesting to see how this was built and the decisions that were made.
The specific trailer at Quartzsite is one that the company has towed around quite a bit so it has accumulated a lot of miles but, the way I saw it, it appeared to be fresh out of the factory. So this is just one of the reasons to own one of these rigs - they are extraordinarily well made.
Who is Living Vehicle
Living Vehicle is a rather forward thinking travel trailer that incorporates some really unusual features and characteristics that was designed by architect Matthew Hofmann. Together with his wife, Joanna, they have come up with something quite different.
The Santa Barbara couple’s goals, as stated on their website, is to create a sustainable living solution by working to develop a completely self-supporting, net-zero product.
Essentially the Living Vehicle is a travel trailer that features an interior that can be described as upscale Ikea, and that’s not meant as a pejorative at all. The trailer kind of looks like a large cargo trailer made of aluminum and is packed with energy and cool stuff that I think should be in more use, frankly.
What’s inside
Unlike most RVs, the Living Vehicle’s structural interior components are all metal. The drawers, cabinets, all of that is powder coated aluminum. The latches on the doors are all mechanical latches so the drawers and cabinets don’t go flying open as you’re driving around. It just makes a lot of sense.
There is a bit of wood inside but none of that is structural - it’s all decorative.
There are also no slide rooms in this but there is a patio on the camp side that drops down using a power mechanism. This is sort of like a cargo ramp door on a toy hauler but this is strictly a patio and makes a very nice deck.
The model I saw had a dinette in the back which had a power-operated bed on top of it. You could easily sleep six people in this trailer by transforming the dinette to a bed and then lowering the power-operated bed above it.
Funny thing - in the trailer that we saw there was a cat door at the base of the dinette that lead to a space where you could keep a litter box. This is the kind of thinking that you get at this price point.
Nice bedroom
In the model on display there was a bedroom at the front where there was a Murphy bed. I was told that this is an older model as they’ve reconfigured this room but this bed arrangement is still available and that’s good.
The Murphy bed in the one I saw swung up to the road side of the trailer. When the bed was up a desk appeared and you could keep a laptop or other thinner computer or gadget on the table when the bed was down. That’s pretty neat.
There was also a washer/dryer in the bedroom and decent closet space.
The bathroom of the Living Vehicle with the teak shower and heated towel bar
The bathroom
Peggy and I both really liked the bathroom because it featured a teak shower with a very elaborate shower head. It really added some warmth to the interior that is a bit industrial. We were also pretty impressed with the spaciousness of the bathroom, especially being a mid-bath model.
Boondocking and off-grid camping
Starting at the top, there is a minimum of 1,320 watts of solar up to 3,080 on the Pro model. But what’s the most innovative, to me, is that a whole bank of those panels is the optional solar awning (depending on model). So rather than a fabric awning, you hit a button and the panels extend out like an awning and shade the camp-side windows. It’s absolutely brilliant.
The fruits of all those solar panels are stored in 8,700 kWh of nickel manganese cobalt lithium batteries. All of this runs through a 3,600 watt Xantrex inverter system.
But the most remarkable thing about all this power is that the company you can get a model with a Level 1 charging system so, in theory, you can charge your tow vehicle. Seriously. Now, let’s be honest, this is a big, heavy, boxy rig so you’re not going to be using those solar panels for a cross-country endless driving trip. But you can get a boost or charge an electric vehicle while camping.
There are actually three levels of solar/energy packages depending on which of the three Living Vehicles trailers you choose. The Core, Max and Pro models all have varying degrees of solar and other goodies included.
The goal of all the models is to be able to drive the whole trailer, including the AC, with solar power. The Max and Pro models also have enough energy storage so that you can run everything overnight.
Conclusions
This is a beefy, beefy rig which brings a bit of irony to the table. Hauling around a giant box like this is going to take a lot of energy and, quite likely, that’s going to mean a one ton truck. So if you like to travel and like to be an eco warrior, that big ol’ diesel pickup is going to be something you hide in the forest between tows.
But you could also do as a lot of the company’s customers have done and simply put this on a piece of land and let it be a fully off-grid home. Or even a second home or guest house. Or, how about this, a vacation rental?
But with this thing being a half a million bucks, it’s going to take a lot of those vacation rentals to pay it off. I will say that, unlike in most RVs, I wouldn’t worry about even careless guests causing damage as this thing is built like a brick…well…it’s solid. How’s that?
One thing that I thought was strange was that there was a propane stove and oven and a regular (not convection) microwave in here. Seems a bit hokey for something in this price range, quite honestly.
I love the idea of no slides and a very solid build using no structural wood whatsoever.
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