The Back Story

When I (Tim) was 10 years old, my family spent a year travelling around Australia in a Toyota Landcruiser Troop Carrier towing a Baravan. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my childhood and I loved being able to explore the country and connect with nature as well as my parents and sister. I still tell many of the stories such as when our caravan came unhitched and overtook us going down a hill or when my Dad fell and broke his hip at Jim Jim falls in Kakadu and the challenge of floating him down the river to get him back to the car and out of the National Park for medical assistance. It was precious time that helped to shape who I am and develop an appreciation for our beautiful natural environment. In 2024 I will have worked for the Health Department for 10 years and so my long service leave is due. When considering how best to use this time, we couldn't go past giving our children a similar experience to my own, doing a Big Lap of Australia and exploring their own amazing country. The plan is to show the kids more of what Australia is than just the big cities, spend some significant quality time together, explore the outback and experience a slower paced life for a while.

Given our ethos of sustainability and minimising our footprints on the planet, we wondered if it was yet possible to do this trip fully electrified, and strive for better sustainability. We want our kids to experience Australia's natural environment, but minimise our impact on nature at the same time. Over the last 15 years we have transitioned our vehicles from a hybrid, to a plug-in hybrid and then to a fully electric vehicle and we didn't want to have to go back to an ICE vehicle for this trip.

With a bit of initial research and pondering, we realised that an all-electric camper trip, although much better for the environment, would have some challenges, especially in the more remote parts of Australia, but it definitely isn't impossible. So, not the types to shy away from a bit of a challenge, we decided to get serious and give it a go.

As electric vehicle offerings and EV charging infrastructure are rapidly on the rise, we felt a few things were coming to fruition to help us to make this achievable.

Our planned departure date in 2024 firstly coincides with the completion of the WA EV Network spanning from the Nullarbor's WA/SA border, through the South West, up the coast and into the Northern Territory near Kununurra. With high speed charging options less than 200km apart, the whole way.

EV range anxiety is something drivers unfamiliar or new to EVs often worry about. When towing a trailer or caravan behind a vehicle range (both for an EV or petrol/diesel) drops, but how much of an effect depends on many things, including cruising speeds, driving styles, added weight and aerodynamic changes.

With these considerations in mind, and some research on the significant factors, we figured our electric lap of Oz could well be possible right now, with a little bit of planning and some vehicle preparation/modifications to help guarantee our success. With ever improving EV technologies and options, and significant rollout of EV charging options, in the not too distant future, many things will make it easy enough that most things we need to plan for, won’t even be a consideration.

We have given ourselves 9 months to circle and explore Australia - a pace we felt was not too rushed such that the trip itinerary would be more than just a tick-list of charging stations, but also constrained in length by my leave and the kid’s schooling needs.

We also wanted to ensure the comfort levels were such that this electric trip was considered a serious family caravan style Lap of Oz,- not a hotel/ Air BnB tour in an EV - or sleeping in the car or tenting trip - which has all been done before, proven possible by a number of people with now a number of commonly available EVs.

To keep the aerodynamic drag to a minimum, we decided on a pop-top van or camper trailer that meant the roof would ideally be at the same height or lower than the EV tow vehicle. (ie. minimal increase in the cross sectional area, when viewed from the front.)

We also figured that current EV towing practicalities is likely to reduce the average daily trip distance typical with current ICE trips - so setup and pack-up of the camper is going to be more frequent - and needs to be simple and quick enough that that doesn’t detract from enjoying the journey. Luckily Jacka Industries have the answer for that. Their solutions can motorise your winding roof, with a simple touchscreen control to make setup and pack-up effortless and quick. Simply unlatch the roof, hit "go" and you are free to drop the legs and open up the camp chairs while the ERS (Electric Roof System) does all the hard work for you!

When looking for low tow height camper trailers that offered:

a) some off-road capability to explore off the beaten track,

b) enough comfort for a family of 4 for an extended trip across the full range of weather Australia will muster up, &

c) easy of frequent setup and pack-up,

The New Age / Walkinshaw Wayfinder 12F ticked all the boxes.

In respect to the designing the solar energy harvesting system, the solid pop-top roof also has the advantage over folding roof systems, that fixed solar panels on the roof are available whilst towing or in camp mode, allowing solar harvesting at all times while the sun is up!