one of the The great pleasure of camping is silence. There’s nothing worse than going out into nature, away from society, and then hearing someone at a campground turn on a loud, smelly gas generator.
Pebble, a California-based company that is building a new travel trailer, hopes that an electric motorhome will be ideal for bringing some peace of mind to the glamping life.
He pebble flow It is a travel trailer with a large battery in the floor. You can turn on the lights, the shower, the heat and air conditioning, and anything else you want to use energy for in the forest. The battery also powers a tow assist function, so the Flow can give itself an extra boost when towing it down the road, taking the load off the vehicle you’re using to transport the camper.
Pebble first announced the Flow in 2023, but hasn’t revealed the full range of features it plans to add to the RV until today. In an announcement scheduled for CES week, Pebble says it will assemble and deliver its first motorhomes in the first half of 2025. They’re available for pre-order now, starting at $109,000, but going up to $135,500 if you want to be able to control them. its functions with a complementary mobile application.
in the flow
The Flow has the same aesthetic as many current model EVs, with large windows and smooth, curved features that aim to make it more aerodynamic. It looks like a futuristic luxury spaceship or a really big fancy toaster, depending on how romantic you want it to be. CEO Bingrui Yang is very romantic about it: He chose the name Pebble for the company because the naturally occurring smooth stones tend to bring people joy, and he wants the electrified caravan to foster that same feeling of serenity.
I had the opportunity to tour the small space of a Pebble Flow demo unit at Pebble’s headquarters in Fremont, California. It holds almost everything you would want if you are an RVer. Inside there is a kitchen with an induction stove, convection oven, sink, microwave and refrigerator. The cabinets have ample storage space and there are hidden hatches in the floor for more storage space. Most windows open if you need to let in the breeze. In the back is a queen-size Murphy bed that retracts into the wall to make room. A dining table can be divided into a second bed at the other end of the trailer. A bathroom and shower are located right in the middle of the floor plan. A glass wall separates it from the rest of the interior, but the person in the bathroom can press a button to electronically frost the glass if they need a private poop.
To the seasoned RV enthusiast, all of this probably seems like standard fare for a trailer costing over a hundred thousand dollars. Well, you’re right, but what Pebble hopes is that its EV-like add-ons will make the Flow special.
The Flow is powered by a 45 kWh lithium-ion battery built into the floor of the caravan. This is slightly smaller than the batteries built into compact electric vehicles currently on the market, and about half the size of the automotive industry’s largest electric vehicle batteries. Pebble says the battery can power interior systems for up to seven days on a full charge. A set of 1 kW solar panels integrated into the roof can recharge the battery part of the way while you’re on the road, and regenerative charging kicks in while towing. It also has vehicle-to-charge technology, so you can connect to the Flow to use it as a backup power source or electric vehicle charger.
The Pebble Flow is not actually an E-RV in the sense that it can function as a vehicle on its own. You will need another platform to tow it anywhere. Pebble says that while towing with a hybrid or gas-powered vehicle will probably take you further, you can tow with another electric vehicle. The 25-foot trailer weighs 6,200 pounds loaded with all options, so some muscle will be needed to move it. Pebble’s website shows the Flow being towed by a Cybertruck. (While I was at company headquarters, I noticed a matte black Cybertruck in the parking lot. It belongs to Pebble’s CTO, who talked a lot about it while I was there.)
The electric trailer assist function can be activated when the Flow is in motion. While the motors provide decent thrust behind a real vehicle, they’re powerful enough to spin the Flow a bit using a smartphone app, although it only moves about 1 mile per hour on its own. That’s enough to turn it in a very slow circle, but not close enough to go down the block. What it allows you to do is maneuver the trailer into your campsite spot without having to push and pull it with your car. Simply unhook the Flow, grab your iPad, and drive it like a slow, giant RC car to the perfect spot. Turning on trailer assist mode or driving it around the campground will definitely reduce the trailer’s battery life for actual camping activities, as you can imagine.
Pebble has a feature it calls Magic Hitch (it’s actually not magic) that allows you to use the app to connect the Flow to the trailer hitch of your tow vehicle. Simply guide it with the on-screen controls, and when the Flow is close enough, press and hold a button and the hitch will use its attached camera to find the exact spot to latch onto. Another feature, called InstaCamp, allows you to park the trailer on an uneven surface and then press a button for the camper to level itself automatically.