However, the issue is that energy storage ( battery content/recharge limits) ARE a factor for electric, while they are NOT a factor for propane
That's where my comment comes in regarding the way you travel. We seem to travel very differently. I have no need to store more capacity than for a maximum of two days at one place. Three to four days, that's more than I personally need, but let's calculate whether I
could do this:
- Capacity available 200Ah in LFP batteries, so I have no problem going down to 10% or so capacity. Let's say 180Ah usable capacity.
- The way we eat while traveling is:
- Cold breakfast (Müsli) with a hot beverage, usually coffee: 5Ah
- Bread with cheese and other cold stuff during the day, two more breaks with hot beverage, either tea or coffee: 2x 5Ah
- Stop for the day in the afternoon somewhere, getting comfortable, prepping dinner, another hot beverage: 5Ah
- Full on dinner, the maximum I've ever used to cook this is 40Ah
- Running the fridge depends on outside temperature, but let's say another 20Ah per 24h period
- Assorted small stuff: another 10Ah from our own experience, we are reasonably frugal, but let's say another 15Ah
That means, we are using a max of 95Ah battery per 24h period at max. We've never gotten there, since we generally don't always cook this complicated, or we have a charcoal grill with us, or other reasons. But for the sake of argument, let's run with 95Ah per day.
That wouldn't even give us two high use days with the 180Ah usable capacity I specified in the beginning.
Now, for us to stay at a place for longer, it would mean it's beautiful and the weather is great, otherwise I'm not interested in staying in that place. Wtih that said:
- Let's go with 5h of sunlight for a 200W panel, 60% average output over the day.
- Let's add a portable solar blanket (which I'm happy to set up if I stay in a single place for that time) of another 120W at 60% for 5h.
- The above points add up to 60% of 320W for the very short five hours of sunlight: 960Wh or 80Ah supplemented by solar
- Let's be even more conservative and half that number: 40Ah supplemented by solar per day.
That means I'm using up my capacity at a net rate of 55Ah per day and I have roughly 3.5 of my high usage days. Works for me.
Now, if I also want to have a warm shower every two days for the two of us, we'd be down to 3 days of capacity with conservative solar calculation. Again, works for me.
If I wanted to make sure I'd have enough capacity for four to five days, I'd add another battery. Let's say I'm very weight conscious and use these:
3x LiTime 100Ah 12V Mini
That's 60lbs of batteries total, granted, so payload is a concern, but again, it depends on the individual setup. This would give me nearly two more days of use for the above calculation. Five days of high use and low solar output – no issues for me.
And it comes down to another thing in the style of travel: If we stay in a place for longer, it's normally a place with amenities, meaning shore power, showers, ... but that might be just us. We use these days in a campground or at a motel/hotel to do laundry, relax, go out, clean up properly, etc. For the rest of the time, we are traveling pretty much every day or we aren't using much since we are on day hikes or so and have a small camping cookset with us.
Sorry, I keep editing this to be a) more realistic and b) add some more insight into our thinking.
Another point: our setup uses a single source of fuel that needs to be replenished: diesel. The truck is diesel, the heater uses diesel, cooking is done with elecdtricity generated by the truck or solar. I NEVER have think about getting anything but diesel even on a year long trip.
And to not pollute this thread any further: I'm happy to keep discussing this in a specific thread and will not comment any further here to let people go back to finding the perfect propane stove if they so chose.
