Dethleffs e.home: The Solar-Covered Electric Motorhome Concept

The Dethleffs e.home is a concept motorhome that the German manufacturer Dethleffs unveiled at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf in August 2017. Built on an all-electric Iveco Daily chassis, it is covered in about 31 square metres of thin-film solar panels that can produce up to roughly 3 kilowatts in full sun. The idea is that the same electricity runs both the vehicle and everything in the living area, with no gas bottles and no diesel.

Viral posts later described it as a camper that "runs without fuel or charging stations" and lets you travel for free. That goes too far. The e.home was a design study, not a production model, Dethleffs gave no price or launch date, and the solar skin can only cover a fraction of what a heavy vehicle uses to drive. What the study does show, very well, is how a motorhome might be rethought around electricity. Here is what it included and what the numbers really mean.

What Dethleffs actually built

Dethleffs, based in Isny im Allgäu in southern Germany, is one of Europe's oldest caravan makers. For the e.home it chose the Iveco Daily Electric, a battery-electric version of a popular light commercial van, and built an alcove-style motorhome body on top.

According to the German electric-mobility site electrive.net, the chassis uses a liquid-cooled three-phase asynchronous motor rated at 80 kW and sodium-nickel-chloride batteries with a combined 85 kWh of capacity, which the makers describe as fully recyclable. Supercapacitors are installed as well, to help with short bursts of power. Earlier coverage also reported a lifespan of around 1,500 charge cycles, though that figure was not confirmed in the launch report.

From the side, the e.home looks like a normal white Iveco-based motorhome until you notice that almost every flat surface, from the alcove over the cab to the rear wall, is covered in dark solar modules framed around the windows and door.

The solar skin: 31 square metres of panels

Instead of a few rigid panels on the roof, Dethleffs wrapped the body in flexible thin-film solar foil, about 31 m² in total, or roughly 334 square feet. The peak output quoted was about 3 kW. Thin-film modules are lighter than conventional glass panels and can follow gentle curves, which makes them suitable for the sides of a vehicle.

This studio shot from the rear quarter shows how the solar foil continues around the back and sides of the body. The panels fill the spaces between windows, so the vehicle looks almost tiled.

Dethleffs' managing director at the time, Alexander Leopold, framed the concept as more than an electric chassis with a camper on top. In coverage of the launch he was quoted as saying that "a motorhome with electric drive will also supply all the onboard services with electricity for the living area instead of gas". That explains why so much surface was given over to solar power.

Inside: a gas-free living area

The interior was designed to work without propane, which is still the standard energy source for heating and cooking in most motorhomes. Heating came from infrared panels built into the floor, walls and furniture, combined with phase-change material that stores warmth during the day and releases it later.

The rear lounge has a U-shaped bench in pale upholstery around a large table, with wood-effect cabinets above and long windows on either side. Several of those windows carry a film between the panes that can be darkened electrically.

That switchable glazing does three jobs: it reduces glare, keeps heat out on sunny days and gives privacy without curtains. Lighting, heating, power and the central locking could all be controlled from a tablet app through Dethleffs' CampConnect system.

Looking towards the front, the dinette sits under a skylight, with the kitchen worktop and sink to the right and tall wooden lockers to the left. Wireless charging for phones and other devices was part of the concept.

Coverage in the US site Green Matters reported that the solar system used components from the Dutch company Victron Energy, including charge controllers and an inverter-charger, together with a separate lithium battery for the living area and DC converters for charging laptops and phones.

The alcove bed above the cab has a ceiling studded with tiny lights, a starlight effect reported as one of the study's playful touches, plus a roof window and small side windows for air.

Can the sun really drive a motorhome?

This is the question most readers ask, and the honest answer is: only partly. A peak rating of 3 kW is reached only with strong, direct sunlight on the panels. Panels on the sides of a vehicle meet the sun at a poor angle much of the day, and heat, shade and cloud cut output further.

As a rough estimate, a very sunny summer day might yield somewhere around 10 to 15 kWh from such a system, and often much less. A loaded electric van of this size typically needs in the order of 25 to 35 kWh to cover 100 km. So a day of sunshine might add a few tens of kilometres of driving, or comfortably run the fridge, lights, heating and devices while parked. The main battery would still need to be charged from the grid for longer trips.

That does not make the concept pointless. Off-grid campers already rely on solar to power living areas for days at a time, and using one large battery for both driving and living removes the need for a gas system. Solar on vehicles also keeps improving; several makers of passenger cars have experimented with solar bodywork since 2017.

Myths and what happened next

Myth: it travels for free. Sunshine is free, but the vehicle, the batteries and grid charging are not, and Dethleffs never announced a price. A reader commenting on the German launch report guessed a price above €150,000, which was speculation, not a company figure.

Myth: it never needs a charging station. For any meaningful distance, it would. The solar panels supplement the battery; they do not replace charging.

Myth: you can buy one. The e.home was presented as a study. At launch Dethleffs said nothing about series production, and, as far as public reports show, it never became a regular model. Its ideas, such as gas-free living areas, smart controls and electric base vehicles, have nevertheless appeared across the industry as electric vans and motorhome concepts have multiplied.

Why the e.home still matters

The study was an early, serious attempt to imagine a motorhome built around electricity from the ground up, rather than a conventional camper with a few panels bolted on. It asked useful questions: how much surface can generate power, how to heat a living space without gas, and how to manage energy for both driving and living from one system.

For anyone dreaming of solar-powered travel today, the takeaway is practical. Solar panels can make a camper largely self-sufficient while parked and can top up an electric vehicle, but long journeys still depend on charging. Treat bold claims about fuel-free travel with healthy scepticism, and look for real-world tests rather than concept renderings.

Sources: electrive.net, 28 August 2017: Dethleffs zeigt E-Reisemobil e.home; Dethleffs: Reiseziel Zukunft; Green Matters coverage of the e.home (2019). Photos: Dethleffs.