Over the last 12 months I’ve been gradually converting my 2003 VW T4 to fully electric. Caveat - whilst I’d love to replace the 2.5 TDI engine with a powerful electric motor with a range of 300 miles, what I’m actually talking about is “whilst parked”. A pretty modest goal in many ways, but a bottle of gas stores a lot of energy and at the outset I was unsure how far I could go.
I purchased an Ecoflow Delta, a 2 hob induction cooker and a collapsible electric kettle. With some old flexible solar panels I already had this worked pretty well during the peak summer months - the solar would ensure the battery had all the energy I needed. In late March of this year I came very close to finding the limit, running the battery very low, but happy with the overall experience I added an extra battery, doubling my capacity to 2kWh.
With some additional storage my thoughts turned to heating, and I first tried a portable space heater. Whilst it provided some comfort it was not wholly effective and the battery drain meant it was only really an option in locations with an electric hook-up. When offered the chance to try a MatZero I was keen to see how it would perform, and first trialled it in early May whilst camping in North Wales.
Despite the campsite having electric hookup I chose to run the van “off-grid”, running from the batteries only. In use the Mat was excellent; comfortable to lie on and with the power set fairly low it delivered a very pleasant warmth. I was able to sleep with my open sleeping bag over me like a blanket and obtained a great night’s sleep. In the morning the battery display showed I’d used 270Wh running the mat overnight, about 1/8 of my battery capacity.
I subsequently used the mat several more times before night time temperatures no longer required it, also using a second mat at times when 2 of us were sleeping in the pop top and every use has resulted in a good night’s sleep.
Since trialling the mat I’ve now added a flexible CIGS solar panel to the roof of my van, extending the charging time from previously. Off-grid electric van life (parked) is working well for me so far and it’s great to have a warming solution alongside a cooking one in the van.
