For years, various companies have been promising the world revolutionary new camper trailers with their own drive motors that can assist the tow vehicles hauling them down the road. Now, one company has actually achieved the milestone of putting such a design into series production. This spring, the wild Pebble Flow self-propelled camper is hitting the road in customers’ hands.
The two main companies developing self-trailering technology are Lightship and Pebble, and both are exploring the “what if?” it presents. What if you could tow a big camper and keep most of your range or fuel economy? What if your camper had a ginormous battery that powered everything inside it? What if campers didn’t look so boring anymore?
There is always a ton of skepticism when a startup company promises to revolutionize or “disrupt” a market. Anyone who has tossed enough money at Kickstarter projects can tell you that some ideas are just too good to be true. In recent years, we’ve seen engineers from Tesla, Rivian, and similar leave their EV automaker careers to pursue bringing innovation to the RV industry. I’ve written about both Lightship and Pebble extensively and understandably, readers have had their doubts. It’s a massive undertaking to bring a vehicle into production, and having that vehicle be a camper presents its own unique challenges.
First To Market
The first production self-towing camper is now officially the Pebble Flow. Pebble says production has kicked off and deliveries will begin later this spring. What those customers will get is still pretty awesome. If you’re interested in reading about Pebble’s history, click here to read previous coverage. Otherwise, let’s get into it.
Some people hate the work involved with travel trailers. You have to reverse your tow vehicle to the trailer and align the tow ball perfectly. On the road, you have to be mindful that you’re hauling a 7,000-pound or so brick behind your truck. Having that huge load makes great changes to your vehicle’s driving dynamics, including acceleration, braking, and cornering. Of course, it also hurts your fuel economy or electric range.
Once you get to your destination, you might find out that campgrounds have narrow spaces lined with trees and infrastructure. If you do things the old-school way like I do, you will reverse your rig into the tiny spot by furiously checking your mirrors, craning your neck, and maybe even jumping out of your truck to check clearances. I love the challenge of getting big things into small spaces, but a lot of folks don’t.
That’s not me assuming things, either, but by spending years talking to people who complain about these sorts of things. The complaints don’t end there, either. A lot of folks aren’t fond of the setup that comes after finally parking the trailer. You have to level the unit, drop down the stabilizers, kick in wheel chocks, hook up power, hook up water, hook up sewer, deploy the awning, and more. Some folks just want to drop the tongue and get right to camping. The Pebble Flow is the camper for those people.
Pebble’s team leaned on their experience in the automotive industry for design. The Flow travel trailer rides on an all-aluminum spaceframe, has an aluminum skeleton under the body, and that body is draped in composites. The result is a trailer that looks like it came out of a car factory. Here’s what I said when I toured the prototype trailer in late 2023:
In person, the body of the trailer appeared to be built well. The composites seemed solid and the body has fewer places to leak than your typical camper. I also love the design. Many campers just look like uninspired boxes, but this looks like it could have been penned by a Porsche designer. You can even spot some automotive-inspired design from the trailer’s lighting and its lines.
That prototype trailer had a solid fit and finish and a style that was something else for a camper. I also like how Pebble is embracing some newer trends in the RV world, like equipping the Flow with huge windows to give their trailer an airy feeling.
Smooth Operator
The secret sauce of the Pebble is what’s underneath the skin. Like Lightship, Pebble has developed a propulsion system for the Flow travel trailer. If you order your Pebble with the Magic Pack, you’ll get what Pebble calls Easy Tow. This system consists of two motors mounted to the trailer and driving the trailer’s axle.
This axle is designed to help the tow vehicle haul the Pebble trailer. When you drive your truck, and it doesn’t matter if it is electric, gas, or diesel, the Easy Tow system activates the trailer’s drive axle to ease the load on the tow vehicle. The objective isn’t so that the trailer overpowers the tow vehicle.
Instead, there is always tension on the coupler, and the tow vehicle is always doing more work than the trailer. But the trailer is reducing the work to help save range or fuel economy. The Pebble Flow has a gross weight of 6,800 pounds. When the drive motor is helping, it’s as if you’re towing a significantly lighter trailer. The dual-motor system feeds from a 45 kWh LFP battery, and Pebble says that the drive system should be good for up to 250 miles of range.
As for charging, Pebble says the Flow gets juice from shore power at campgrounds, public charging stations, and the optional 1.1 kW of solar panels that you can put on the roof. Additionally, the production Flow does have regenerative braking for energy capture.
The dual-motor system also offers a couple of more trick features. Magic Hitch will allow the Pebble Flow to use cameras and AI to drive itself up to your tow vehicle and hitch itself right onto the tow ball. You just put in the finishing touches with the chains and the power hookup. There’s also a remote control function that lets you decouple from the trailer, hop out of your tow vehicle, and then drive your Pebble Flow like an RC car into your campground slot.
The battery, regardless of whether it’s hooked up to the Magic Pack or not, can pump out 12 kW, 240V power to an external source. This can charge your EV or serve as a huge battery for your house. Once you get to camp, there’s one more neat feature, and it’s InstaCamp. At the push of a button, the trailer will stabilize itself, turn the lights on, and deploy the stairs. You will need to hook up any external connections manually, but it’ll otherwise be ready to camp.
Inside, the trailer runs everything off of electricity. That means no gasoline generator to haul around and no propane to refill for heat and cooking. The front of the trailer features a dinette that turns into a bed.
In the middle, you’ll find your kitchen and bathroom. The bathroom has glass walls, yes, but also trick electrochromic glass that gives tons of privacy when it’s switched on. When I toured the prototype, I was impressed that the bathroom was actually quite sizable and didn’t make me feel like I was trying to shove myself into a shoebox. I’m not a small person, so I appreciate when RVs have showers that don’t make me feel like a burrito in a microwave. Pebble says that the bathroom has a macerating toilet and its layout was inspired by hotel bathrooms.
Across from that is the kitchen, where you get a 4-in-1 microwave, a full-size fridge, a sink, and a Wandering Cooktop that can be removed, passed through the huge pop-open kitchen window, and used outside.
Finally, we arrive at the rear. By day, the rear of the trailer is a workspace with a nice desk for two people to plop down their computers. The trailer is also plug-and-play ready for Starlink, if that’s your jam. By night, a Murphy camper queen-size bed comes down and offers cozy space for two. Add in the front bed, and there should be comfy sleeping for four.
Pebble says that a full battery can last up to seven days. Other stores include 40 gallons for fresh water, 37 gallons for grey water, and 13 gallons for waste. The trailer also measures 24’8″ long and weighs 5,800 pounds empty. But Pebble warns that you need at least 6,800 pounds of towing capacity.
I came out of my tour of the prototype impressed with the quality displayed by the Pebble team. The one thing I wasn’t a fan of was the use of Alcantara for some interior wall trimmings in the prototype. Update: I’ve been told that there is no Alcantara in the production model. That’s great!
As I said earlier, the huge news here is that Pebble has started production, and deliveries will happen this spring. That means Pebble has made good on its claim of being the first to make a production travel trailer with a self-propulsion system. Congratulations to Pebble on this achievement!
Big Style Comes At Big Money
So, now that production is going, you might want to know about the big question I haven’t answered yet. The Pebble Flow Standard starts at $109,500. For that price, you get the 45 kWh battery and most of the main features, but not the drive system, the remote control, or the automatic hitch.
If you pay $135,500, you get the trailer with the drive system and the self-parking and self-hitching features. Rooftop solar is still a $4,000 option with this model, as is the $1,750 powered awning and $2,250 all-terrain leveling jacks. If you pay another $4,000, you can get the same electrochromic glass as the bathroom, but applied to the exterior windows.
Alternatively, you can pay $175,000 for a Founders Edition and get it with all of the option boxes checked and plus a special Fern green color. I won’t lie to you, dear readers, that flagship is big bucks for a travel trailer. Though, it’s also cheaper than a smaller camper van that has fewer features.
Unfortunately, that means that many of the people who might like a trailer like this, like my elderly parents, cannot afford to buy one. Even with that price, I am still a fan of the Pebble concept. Even if you don’t get the one with the motor system, it just looks neat, and the battery system is still pretty handy. This is a camper that can power your house when you’re not using it for nine months out of the year. If my inspection of the prototype is any indication, I think these trailers will last pretty long, too. So, I think if you’re a techy kind of person with a decent bit of money, I think you’ll like it.
This seems like a whole new category of vehicle. How are powered trailers licensed and insured? Is it different for every state and insurer?
I had to go look up my previous comments on this because after reading through the article I was like “Didn’t I hate this?” Turns out, no, I didn’t. My main concern is whether there is a meaningful market for a generally well-designed camper that is catering to people who don’t actually want a camper.
If money were no object I’d probably buy the Founder’s edition, plug it in to my home solar array (which I would also have to buy to justify the giant battery sitting around degrading 97% of the time) and smile every time I remote control it perfectly into a campsite.
Sadly, money is a thing and I can’t see myself ever spending this much on a camper. Maybe the remote control tech will eventually trickle down to more affordable models though. As someone who typically camps alone I would love to jump out of my truck and back the trailer in while standing behind it so I can see everything I might hit. Although honestly a backup camera on the trailer would address 99% of my issues with that and cost a whole lot less. Which returns me to my original point of “Who is this for?”
How are they handling the legal issues with a self propelled trailer? All 50 states and NHTSA consider this to be a motor vehicle if it has more than 50cc gas power or 1500W electric power. Being a motor vehicle that’s not a motorcycle, it is legally required to have a steering wheel, a driver’s seat, headlights, two airbags, a backup camera, TPMS, dual circuit hydraulic brakes, crash testing and an EPA certification, and full automobile registration. And a bunch of other things.
So what the heck do you do with a trailer that’s illegal to sell(does not meet federal requirements for motor vehicles sold new in the US), illegal to register(you can’t register a motor vehicle as a trailer), and illegal to operate on public roadways?
But, but, disruption!
Two wheels…
equals motorcycle 🙂
Any data or claims on the improvement to the tow vehicles efficiency?
I wager you would never break even on the energy $ savings.
I’ll take Things That Don’t Need to Exist for $400, Alex.
Pleasantly impressed. Id think the ability to use propane would be a very cheap way to increase functionality and appeal.
I am actually pleasantly surprised by the price tag. It appears to be around 30% more expensive than a comparably sized Airstream (based on MSRP, I have no idea what people are actually paying), but the huge battery, drive system, and automated features seem worth the premium. If it has the same build quality as an Airstream, I could see this product selling reasonably well.
Yeah, it’s a lot but you get a lot relative to the comps. The solar not being standard is the thing that stood out most to me on the pricing. Who wouldn’t spec that in? What do you get if you don’t tick that box? Any solar? A port for an easy hookup?
Even if you didn’t have enough solar power for weeks of boondocking, a few hundred watts is basically a requirement just to keep the battery happy sitting in your driveway without having to keep an extension cord plugged in 24/7.
I thought it was odd the $135k model didn’t include solar. I could see making it an option on the base model, but it should be standard on the mid and upper level models.
“Magic Hitch will allow the Pebble Flow to use cameras and AI to drive itself up to your tow vehicle and hitch itself right onto the tow ball. You just put in the finishing touches with the chains and the power hookup.”
I give it two weeks before one of these disconnects from the tow vehicle and crashes because the owner failed to do that last bit. Magic Hitch = Full Self Driving, y’know?
In this tech-bro timeline, this leads to self driving houses, a future no one asked for.
I was gifted a welcome mat that says “Forgive me for what I said while I was backing up the trailer”. I’ll let you imagine the rest.
To me, that ability to disconnect and drive itself into the parking spot is an absolutely fantastic feature. Not that I’m in the market with those prices, but if I ever decided to sell the house and go full RV lifestyle, I’d be very tempted to spring for this thing.
I could see a viable use case for this with energy arbitrage. Hook it up to the house and time shift renewable energy generation. 45 kWh is a lot of battery. LFP doesn’t care as much about being cycled as NCM. That could save a lot of money. A 20 kWh battery system is about $20k installed. View it as a $40k household battery attached to a $90k camper and it makes a bit more sense.
If they’re smart they’ll offer household integration and make it eligible for tax credits.
That’s something many people overlook is how can a camper be useful when being stored.(Outside of secondary storage shed) And to act as a whole house back-up even the people who have the money to buy this would likely still utilize it.
My total electric bill is about $250 a month. And we use a lot of electricity including charging an EV. Lets say it somehow saved us 50%. That’s about $1500 a year. I don’t think anyone considers that a lot of money. Especially someone buying a $175,000 camper.
And that’s only if I leave it sitting next to my house plugged in. And who really has the space for that and wants to look at it the 360 days a year it’s not being used.
I think there are alot of ways someone will justify purchasing something like this. But it really just comes down to “I want that”. And that is fine.
A fair number of people around me have campers this size sitting in their driveway most of the year. Might as well get some use out of it. That’s on the paperwork side of things and if the local utility is forced to offer incentives for battery storage or making a virtual power plant.
Not going to lie, I’d love a camper just like this and the Rivian to tow it. Having that much battery would make boondocking just like being at an electric campsite. I’ll do the usual Autopian thing of waiting 10 years to pick one up secondhand at 25% of the original price.
I’m all for it if that’s your thing. I think if you have something it’s fun to use it in as many ways and as much as possible. And creative is fun in its own right. I just see it as a little contrived to say someone is going to “save a lot of money” by buying this thing. I could settle on “save some money that may or may not be worth your time, but will have fun doing it and idgaf I’ll do it because I want to and it makes me happy”.
Save a lot of money compared to buying a different RV. It depends on local conditions. But having a giant mobile battery in the driveway that can power the whole house for a few days or run the fridge/lights/fan for 7-10 days without input is a great thing. Plus the opportunity for arbitrage charging on super off peak and not going on peak is where the savings compared to a traditional RV would come from.
Yeah it’s massively expensive, but I will say I was surprised that it wasn’t more expensive. With the nutty prices we’ve seen for much smaller Sprinter van conversions, I figured this thing was going to be pushing 150k to start. Not that I think it should cost that, but rather just figured it would cost that.
I live in the Northeast, and would be willing to wager that I’ll never see one of these in the flesh.
Edit: Remembering the Happier Camper article from yesterday, where that fiberglass camper started at 70k. This thing seems far larger and nicer without the propulsion system at 110k. And if you’re spending these sums of money on a camper, I’d imagine you probably don’t really care about the cost.
I feel like “self-towing” and “self-propelled” do not and should not mean the same thing [he said pedantically through his gray hair].
Fit and finish looks nice. I like the interior layout and the usable bathroom.
Price is what it is. I guess we’ll see if these find buyers.
So much invested in a camping trailer. I see these things as having a lot of down time, like more than 90%. I know a couple with a smaller airstream that thentake between Texas and Maine once a year and split their time between two homes. They spend a week getting to Maine in the spring and another week coming back to Texas in the fall. In their case that would be a lot of tech sitting around getting stale. I guess the battery could be connected to your house the other 50 weeks of the year to work with a solar system but that just introduces more complexity.
I’ve found it interesting both the pebble and lightship have alot of Rivian design language and are often pictured with Rivian. The lightship guys have basically said they are working with Rivian on some kind of can bus to interface with the motors cameras and possibly bidirectional charging. The lightship to me is much more interesting with what seems a lot more thought in design, systems, and experience but I guess someone has to be first to market.
The folks from Elkhart, Indiana would ask where’s all the swooshy/swirly decals? That’s how people know its an RV with swirly decals, what’s the point of having an RV if you can’t show it off?
Also, they would say the interior really needs to look more like a late 1990s McMansion, but with even cheaper materials
Needs more visible pressboard materials and bad foam couches with scratch fabrics that are “tough”