News

Nov 06, 2023

Austin Inno

Lightship, a recreational vehicle startup founded by former Tesla employees,

Lightship, a recreational vehicle startup founded by former Tesla employees, unveiled March 8 its all-electric travel trailer, which the company thinks will introduce innovation to an industry that hasn't seen significant advancements.

The Lightship L1 is an aerodynamic, battery-powered travel trailer that comes with a self-propulsion system, the startup announced. The self-propulsion technology allows the vehicles towing the trailers to drive without losses in efficiency, meaning a 300-mile range electric vehicle or a 25 mpg truck would maintain those levels of electric and gas efficiencies while pulling the L1, Lightship claims.

The startup is aiming to replace the propane tanks and generators that power typical RVs, co-founder and CEO Ben Parker said. The L1 comes with a battery system that can provide a week of off-grid power without needing to be charged. Its roof is outfitted with a 3-kilowatt solar panel system, which also eliminates the reliance on propane and other fossil fuels, Lightship says.

"One in 10 American families own an RV, but the RV industry hasn't experienced innovation for decades," Parker said in a statement. "Inefficient, unreliable product designs and a power experience that relies on smelly, noisy, gas or propane generators fundamentally hinder the amazing experience of traveling in the outdoors."

Lightship is co-headquartered in Boulder and San Francisco, with its co-founders and staff split between the two cities. Parker and President Toby Kraus started the company after working at Tesla — Parker as an engineer and Kraus working in finance and project management.

The duo is working to disrupt the RV industry in the same way Tesla changed the automotive sector.

The origins of Lightship came while Parker was still working at Tesla and took on a side project to electrify all of the food trucks in the San Francisco Bay Area. Eventually, he expanded past food trucks and began the work to electrify RVs. On a 6,000-mile RV tour of the American West, Parker decided to found Lightship and filed the articles of incorporation while he was still on the road.

Parker and Kraus took another RV trip after founding Lightship, during which they tried to pull another company's aerodynamic travel trailer behind a Tesla Model X from Colorado to California. They had to stop at every EV charger along the way, and at one point had to drop the trailer on an off-ramp, leave to charge the Tesla and return to get it. The trip informed their work on the L1, Kraus and Parker said.

The duo raised $23 million in a Series A round last summer, led by Prelude Ventures. The funding added to the $4 million Lightship raised during its pre-seed and seed rounds. With the funding, Lightship is growing its staff. The startup is currently hiring for 26 positions, including 11 in Boulder.

As of Wednesday, the trailer was made available for reservations. Prospective buyers can put $500 down as a refundable deposit for the L1, and Lightship is expecting to begin production in 2024. The trailers will cost $125,000 for the more basic version and $151,500 for a trailer with additional power.

The travel trailer is already creating buzz for Lightship. The L1 is one of five finalists in the design category of the SXSW Innovation Awards, a competition held during the South by Southwest festival in Austin this month. The Lightship team will show off a prototype of the travel trailer during the festival from March 11 to March 13.

Lightship isn't expecting the L1 to be its only product, but Parker and Kraus started with a travel trailer because those comprise a large part of the RV market, they said.

"With 90% of the market comprising of towable RVs, we began by creating an all-electric travel trailer that is unlike any RV available today, and that is just the beginning," Kraus said in a statement. "We are leveraging our expertise in automotive EV development and design to build a brand that creates delightful outdoor travel experiences for everyone and brings even more people into the pastime of RVing."