A Road Trip into the Future With Lightship RV

Is the future of RVing going to be electrified? The dynamic team at Lightship RV certainly thinks it will be. This startup, which is based out of San Francisco and Colorado, made an impressive debut with the launch of their L1 prototype at SXSW in Austin, Texas in March of 2023. The buzz around the L1 has continued as this all-electric travel trailer has embarked on a media tour across the American West.

Lightship may be a newcomer in the world of RVing--but the launch of their L1 travel trailer was incredibly polished--and the early feedback from consumers and media has been enthusiastic. It's not hard to see why. The L1 is beautiful both inside and out and its power systems have the potential to be complete game changers in an industry that could certainly use a little shaking up.

Everything about Lightship RV seems to exist and operate outside of industry norms. This is no surprise when you consider that both of the company's co-founders are Tesla alums with impressive resumes in the automotive industry. To say that they are both thinking differently about manufacturing RV's would be an understatement. We like that they are bringing their electric vehicle expertise into the RV industry--and we also like that they both truly love road trips and camping. In fact, two epic road trips figure prominently into the origin story of Lightship.

To listen to Jeremy interview Lightship Co-Founders Ben Parker and Toby Kraus please click on the media player above or subscribe to The RV Atlas podcast wherever you get your favorite shows.

Meet the Co-Founders of Lightship RV

Lightship Co-Founders Ben Parker and Toby Kraus

Ben Parker is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Lightship. Before the pandemic started Ben set out on a 6,000 mile road trip across the American West (in a Winnebago Class C) to do some soul searching and business research into RV culture. He incorporated Lightship from the road that very summer.

Toby Kraus is the CEO and Co-Founder of Lightship and he cut his teeth in the EV industry with both Tesla and Proterra. Toby's background is in both engineering and economics and he, just like Ben, is a lover of the great outdoors.

Ben and Toby worked at Tesla at the same time--but they did not know each other during those years. They were introduced later through their mutual Tesla network and quickly discovered that they wanted to work together and bring Lightship to life. They met for the first time in real life just minutes before departing on a road trip with a rented RV. They had a blast on the road trip and ran into a bit of trouble as well. You can read about that story here.

Say Hello to the Lightship L1

Lightship's first product, which has not gone into production at the time of this writing, is the Lightship L1. This is a travel trailer unlike any other we have seen before--and it certainly has the potential to change the RV industry forever. We thought we would like the L1 and have been following Lightship's story very closely--but after taking a deep dive into the unit and its most promising features we think its fair to say that we are infatuated. Let's take an initial look at some of our favorite features.

Our Favorite Features on the Lightship L1

Road Mode and Camp Mode

The Lightship L1 almost looks like two different RV's with two different personalities. When the L1 is compressed down into "Road Mode" it is sleek and aerodynamic with a design that minimizes MPG loss when towing. When it is opened up into "Camp Mode" (with the touch of a button) the interior becomes spacious and filled with light. The L1 has an impressive 7'6" of interior height that helps create an uncrowded living space with plenty of room for kicking back and relaxing in an open and airy environment.

Aerodynamics and Range Assist