They turn old trucks into 100% solar-powered homes on wheels: No need of 🔌
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2024
- Brett and Kira Belan have spent the past decade transforming old vehicles into solar-powered campers. Their journey with Solarrolla began in 2015, with their first conversion project, a Volkswagen Bus: a donor vehicle chosen for its ample roof space (enough for 4 solar panels). Brett engineered a mechanism to tilt the entire wall of panels up to a 40-degree angle, optimizing the vehicle’s ability to capture solar energy.
Growing up, Brett hot-rodded Camaros, Chevelles, and a 1932 Chevrolet and he sees his current work as a continuation of this. "I'm a hot-rodder. I grew up street-rodding. My dad and I built street-rods and the idea with street-rods is you taking a part from this car and a part from that car and you make exactly the car you want," explains Brett. "We're now electrical hot-rodders."
With a degree in mechanical engineering, Brett worked at Ford Motor Company and taught CAD at Jaguar in England before leaving it to live off-grid with family. His first foray into solar-powered vehicles involved creating a solar golf cart and a solar postal van.
His projects are diverse from adding 3kw of solar to a Safari Trek 30-foot motorhome to working with master builder SunRay Kelley to turn his wooden “gypsy wagon” into what Kelley called “a solar-power plant that goes down the road that you live in".
Their most recent project is an eStar conversion featuring a 5kW solar array for musician Redfoo (of LMFAO and "Party Rock" fame). This ambitious conversion involved a month-long charging journey, with some necessary plug-ins during a freezing northern winter, from their workshop in Wisconsin to Redfoo’s home in Malibu.
For their most recent project, they built an old eStar van into a solar-electric camper van for musician Redfoo. We follow their month-long journey from their workshop in Wisconsin to Redfoo's home in Malibu camping and charging with their two children where they were forced to slow down for multi-day charges and enjoy the journey.
We visit Redfoo days after delivery where he was still working out the kinks on his new technology. Brett called in to remind us that: "It's not a car. It's first an off-grid power station, then it's a home and then it's a car." Redfoo hopes to use it during the next power outage to charge his home, his other electric cars, or even to provide mobile help to friends and neighbors.
-Website: solarrolla.com/
-Solarrolla channel: / @solarrolla
-Redfoo: / redfoo
On *faircompanies: faircompanies....
I love to watch people breaking the norms and pushing new technology. Where would we be without these great minds!
That gypsy wagon was so awesome it made me a little verklempt.
"It sure is nice not to pay for gas" - I wish I knew what that was like.
It's like prepaying for your energy according to a 10 yr lifespan for the batteries.
Verklempt? What roughly does that translate to? Google is denying me 😂
@@lovecatspiracy yeah, I've got a meager 1260 watt solar "gen" w/200w solar panels I used the past 3 yrs as a nomad. Super convenient! But then something in the batt. broke, and now I can't charge batt via solar panels. Plus, it's older tech (Li Ion), so drops to 80% after 600 cycles. 😕 BUT, it was fun while it lasted. Now I just charge the batt via AC. 😆
@@mom.left.me.at.michaels9951 "overcome with emotion"
You never saw Mike Meyer's Jewish mother character (Linda Richman) on SNLs Coffee Talk skit (1992)? 😆 She was always verklempt about something. I actually didn't know what it was until then.
I've had this trait since I can remember - it CAN be rather embarrassing when I'm trying to have a conversation about something, but I can't help it. 😊
@@donwyates My husband and son are the knowledgeable ones on this topic, but according to them, you have to choose wisely to purchase the right gear to be comparable to conventional power sources. We live off grid in NE Arizona now, so of course we only want to run the genny when absolutely necessary. And so hubby did the calculus to find us a 10 yr lifespan battery bank. As we continue to develop our homestead, our power demand grows and now we are in the market to expand our battery bank. Of course, the gas price market is highly volatile as well as requiring gas for the truck to pick up gas for the genny etc etc etc. When we were on grid in the Socal suburbs, taking our home fully solar made no sense at all.
Every individual has to figure this calculus to maximize economy and availability. It seems to me that a certain level of capital is required to set up something that will take you more fully energy independent.
Hope you are having a fabulous time living nomadically! 😀
Let everyone just ''slow down, enjoy the freedom'' 🙌 Great video Kirsten
OMG that's not a clunker...THATS A CLASSIC!!!!!!!!
Fair enough, well said.
Yeah, and can be the same price as a Tesla in California 😅
Exodus 20:7
So glad for these innovators. Over time, I know they're doing the work that will make transportation better for us all.
Just love that mix of Hippie vibe and tech nerds... just brilliant 🙌🏻
Now this is the real future! Electric car? Nah.. Solar-powered mobile home, YES!! 👏👏👍👍
Recommendation: you can build a "rain water collection system" on the next upgrade then all you'll need is walter filterss and uv lights if you plan to drink the water, but if you plan to just use it for showering, you probably don't even need that. Anyway, it elimilates you from getting fresh water all the time. As long as it rains, you're good. :)
That's an interesting idea
That is essentially my plan for my bus, but I don't expect to collect enough rainwater for showering. With my region's average annual rainfall and with my roof size, I could catch on average about 20,000 litres (5,000 gallons) per year. But water is heavy, so you can't have massive tanks and you are therefore reliant on fairly consistent rain.
I like this reminder that getting everywhere at 65mph doesn't neccessarily make us feel fullfilled or bring our attention to the most meaningful things. To go along with his theme of going faster by going slower, I will say they are moving forwards by moving backwards. 💚
This channel is so awesome! Thanks for presenting this better future. Less dependence on oil and all the problems it brings.
I love PV solar & LiFePO storage too
👍 Rock on. 🙂.
Love it! It’s like a land sailboat powered by the sun instead of the wind.
Imagine in another ten years when batteries get even better. A nomad could hang out a day or two and move on to the next site.
You're not ready for the apocalypse until you figure out water and food too. On a sailboat you can have a watermaker, and maybe catch some fish. Fun video!
What a great channel. She always finds the most unique and experimental forward thinking people and alternative living ideas.
I WANT ONE! Love Sunray!
What an idea! This is the vanlifers dream come true! I WOULD LIVE IN ONE!
Hi Kirsten ✨
i really love your content, please never stop😊❣️♾️
Oh, thank you! I hope people keep sharing their stories.
@@kirstendirksen how do we contact this guy to see about converting gas-powered vehicles to solar, and how much it would cost?
Kirsten, don't hang out with that man in the van. He might get yall extremely healthy with those smoothies👍🤣
Cool camper! Also cool seeing the original party rocker!
Sorry for Party Rocking
🙋♂️THANKS KIRSTEN,FOR SHARING 😎 VEHICLES 💚💚💚
Kirsten, you have the most interesting channel on YT - LOVE it!
I totally agree with you.
I saw that control panel and wondered if it can generate 1.21 gigawatts of power and travel at 88 mph.
@@Theinternalrewrite precisely!
GREAT SCOTT!
@@janeysiegrist5061 Did anyone else read this comment and hear Doc Brown say them in their head too? 😄
What the hell is a gigawatt?
Like what Paul McCartney said and wrote: I'll Follow the Sun. Love Brett's vision and free spirit.
Thank you, I've been trying to explain to my petrol brothers that this electric movement is just another phase in hot rodding history.
I thought to myself ''This Redfoo guys looks familiar...'' 🤔 Then I realized he's from LMFAO. Literally haven't seen this dude since Party Rock Anthem 😂
WOW ! We are so lucky these geniuses are forging the future for us... I need a solar powered kayak 😊
I need a solar powered body so I don’t need to eat.
Many years ago when mentioned adding solar panels to an RV rooftop many people were claiming that it couldn't be done for some reason....I explained it was no different than solar panels on a house roof but for some reason they couldn't grasp it.
To be fair, the panels we had 10 years ago probably meant it would have had very limited capacity, esp with their weight. It is a testament to how far development has come that it is now an option.
@@snowstrobe ya there’s an old solar panel in my garage and it’s like 50 pounds minimum and covered in heavy steel
This is what im planning on travel for free
Just need some company to manufacture an electric cargo van. Then a third party could attach solar panels to the roof and sides to act as awnings. Travel a couple hours in the early morning, then collect sun rays until late afternoon, then travel a few more hours. If it’s cloudy, be prepared to stay. Pure freedom!
Again!!! The content NEVER disappoints!
Best channel ever
I love that van at the end and would totally want one some day when I can afford it. Two things that would need improvement for me though… that crazy motor-whine noise going the whole time… no way. Also a better deployment system for the panels would be cool. Hopefully they’re working on those!
Noise cancelling tech is available
You gotta write the 6th biggest song of all time to have that kind of money.
Also your dad has to be the found of the Motown record label.
@@dooshmasta Thanx, I had no idea Redfoo's dad was Berry Gordy. That makes him even cooler.
Love it! It makes me want a solar powered camper to live in.
I'm addicted to the idea of the freedom that comes from this lifestyle. Solar Nomad Life!
❤❤❤ Amazing as always. Thank you!
Thank You, Kirsten !!! ❤
All this chaos, experimentation and failures are inevitable when you're exploring and figuring out a new technology.
You do some really nice "documentaries" of interviewing innovators. Thank you for this one too. I recommend Paul Elkins one to readers here.
Nice! I am just finishing up converting a 800 watt wind turbine generator to rotate using magnets so I don’t need the wind and I am always charging, works pretty awesome. Good luck!
That is so cool
So creative! Love these builds!
I never thought of RVs as the best vehicles to be solar EVs, but it makes perfect sense.
signal wires on transmission got crossed! My transmission teacher from Diesel technician courses relayed a true story. When he was a diesel tech for truck tractors, one owner/operator brought his tractor in to the shop. Found himself unable to shift on the highway!! After much wasted time investigating by the transmission, through all the automatic transmission connections, etc...my old teacher found the braided pair-control signal wires for the vehicle, under the driver overhead panel...-had been spliced into to add an after product radio in the cab! He immediately cut those radio wires, dismantled the radio and put it on the driver's seat. cleaned up the connections on the braided pair, tested everything and billed his customer to the hilt for the huge waste of time! (the owner/operator had spliced into the braided pair himself to install that radio!)
my second favorite video for sure!
This is the coolest ever. Love what they have done. I think a Honda element would be great like this.
I so love the creativity seen on this channel!
I'm sure most people here have no idea who Redfoo is. He's huge in the music industry, some of the music he has produced has racked up BILLIONS of views on UA-cam. His channel has almost 3M subscribers. It's so cool to see a rich person investing in stuff like this rather than mansions and McLarens. Many people laugh at stuff like this the same way the Wright Brothers got laughed at. Without people pushing limits we'd have no advancements. Excellent video Kirsten, love content on solar and other alternative energy projects ... THANK YOU.
Thank you, loving it. What a gem, this video. Kind of metamodern, that slowing down gets you further.
People on the outer unpopulated Caribbean islands would LOVE these vehicles 💪
Eveready Kirsten just keeps on going...
Very cool!! Thank you for sharing 🙏🏼
Great idea. You are not going to want to be in the desert in apocalypse, though. Need food and most importantly, water! TFS, very interesting. 😊😊❤❤
Oh my gears I want one
Love these guys ... I've been to their place in Wisconsin... cool to see some of the start of it all.
Now thats rad - Redfoo has the right idea with that! I really love that, how it makes sense to think of it as a (mobile) power station first, a home second and a car last.... like sailing, but on land - via sunlight instead of wind. A Sun Dei (god) driver, LOL!
Love it! 👍🏼
I was not expecting the original Party Rocker to be a collector of solar campers.
Wish I had this vehicle when I was driving the circumference of Australia in my '72 Kombi in 1989!
That is incredible my friend I love it.
Outstanding idea and performance, keep up
Now that’s innovative! 👏 bravo on this kind of thinking
i love engines and hate elec cars but i love this !!!!!!! everything has its place !
Damn, I need me a rolling bunker. Cannot love this enough! I mean plugging in electric cars to a Solarrolla, brilliant!
Love the episode!
Cost would be informative. Thanks!
Yessssssssss
We have solar panels that are 15 years and still working great at 95% of origin capacity. We have 4 Tesla cars with original batteries and drive units and driven each over 360.000 km since 2013 and only lost 1% capacity per year.
Please revisit this in the near future!!
I absolutely love this video!! thank you...
Wonderful,Thank you
OMG That Gypsie wagon 😍🤩
Freakin sweet! I love the gipsy wagon
Very nice efforts. Extra bonus of seeing RedFoo.
Ah, the freedom of being super rich and being able to buy a $200k, self-charging vehicle!
And I know Brett isn't rich, but his customers seem to be. And they all seem to be nuts. Like they're happily collapsing the world into a nightmare, then worrying about things like escaping raiders! The lunacy of it all!
I think their might be a correlation between how rich someone is and how out of touch with reality they are.
@@skeletorthegentleman6603 I think that's very likely.
My friends that is incredible. I love it.
👏👍🇺🇲👏👍🇺🇲
Those guys are already building my dream.
Solar camping feels awesome!
Last guy is how I imagine early adopters.
I'm very familiar with that section of the 101. Now make the same video on a typical cloudy, rainy northern cali coast day. Lol
This is something the RV industry must get on with if it wants to continue to exist.
The last one is awesome. It's a boat! I'd probably make quite a few modifications to the outside, build in those panels with the body and add a protective layer on top, may not get as much juice under direct sun but no need to set it up when you're in the city and still collect a lot of power. It's so slow though, if they could have eeked out another 20kph that would be so great.
Does this dude have a YT channel? I'd like to see his progress on it. Just followed Solarrolla. Great stuff!
sweet!
Fantastic!
A sun-powered Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!
Kirsten you rock. Your channel brightness, the darkest of days. ✌🏽🧡💪🏽
The cost of solar panels is almost more than a new truck.
Wow. Very impressive.
Panels keep getting cheaper.
Bogus products out of Detroit not so much.
Following his lead of "things are getting weird, we dunno whats gonna happen...", can they charge during cloudy days or do they need direct sun, because if the end game from you know who is to block out the sun, aka control the weather, how then does this work?? There's has to be a solution, right? Right??
Put a triangular shape, it tells people that it’s a slow moving vehicle and they can pass you !” It’s white inside,an Orange outside of the sine ,it’s tells it a slow moving vehicle!”
You guys are the bombdiggity for continually finding all of these amazing places to show us. ❤❤🎉🎉
WELL SHUT MY MOUTH! That place with the shingle bus is about 50 mile from my house 😂😂
Can I come visit!?
100% wonderful! ☯️
Great video! Not quite so viable in soggy Scotland but heh, if you are not in a hurry it might just work.
@@makingitthrough190 thing to watch for the tech in the UK is the electric narrowboat scene - it's a thing! 😂
Amazing! I love it!
He had to eat crow for a moment there after a bout with Murphy's Law. Luckily his friend knew how to bail him out, rebooting the electrical system to continue forward again. Another YTer, Joel from Route Del Sol, took a similar looking electric solar RV all the way from Alaska to Argentina and had to stop many times along the way to recharge it. Kristen did a video on his solar electric RV 2 years ago. Very technical stuff, enough amps there to kill you...until the next one !!
I remember watching that one. I also remember Kirsten doing a video about 13 years ago about a little start up company no one had ever heard of. They were trying to market battery powered cars. That company is now one of the ... LARGEST in the world.
Bleed the sun dry! :)
Brilliant! I absolutely love it!
Always interesting
so awesome
It's about independence, it’s about freedom.❤
As a European, i am often jealous that you guys can just do whatever you want over there. But we are just too densely populated, it would be mayhem.
this is great👍
Actually, the reverse only thing absolutely does happen with a gas car! The transmission can develop a problem where the car can only go in reverse. Those people are ignorant. And the funny thing is, i am a gas car driver who refuses to get rid of my gas car, but I still know all tech has their shortcomings.
That setup is still large, complex and expensive. Once tech like graphene batteries are more smaller, efficient and cost less then it will be the sweet spot, travel forever.