If you’re the kind of person who likes camping off-grid and off-road for a while, something like an Airstream probably isn’t at the top of your list. Even the nifty Basecamp comes with at most 300 Watts of solar power. Airstream is changing that by taking technology from its futuristic eStream Concept travel trailer and trickling it down into a consumer product. The 2024 Airstream Trade Wind is a 26-foot Airstream with a three-inch lift kit, off-road tires, and a massive 810 Ah battery bank fed from 600 Watts of solar power. The trailers carries enough power that it can run its air-conditioner without shore power. Let’s check it out.
If you’ve read my story about camping at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023, then you know what it’s like trying to boondock in a typical travel trailer. You get one or two deep-cycle batteries that barely power anything and you either have to resort to bringing a generator or sipping off of a morsel of solar power. I’ve talked with other RV owners and journalists and learned that my experience wasn’t really unique, it was just with a crappy trailer. Even folks with brand-new campers struggle with having enough power when not hooked up to the mains.
How can you make it better? Airstream believes you can solve issues like mine by piling up the battery reserves and cranking up the solar power.
Revealed in January 2022, the Airstream eStream Concept demonstrated a revolutionary new way to tow a travel trailer. Located under the eStream’s floor is an 80 kWh battery pack. That pack powers the trailer’s pair of motors making 242 horsepower and 132 lb-ft torque. The idea here is that you could tow the eStream with an EV or with an ICE tow vehicle and the trailer will provide just enough assistance that your fuel range or charge range takes a minimal hit. It’s a clever technology that can change the game for people towing with EVs. No more stopping every 100 miles to charge your EV pickup.
While that technology is still cooking, Airstream has decided to trickle down other features from the eStream. That giant battery pack doesn’t just power the trailer’s motors but provides energy for long-term boondocking. It can power appliances that normal batteries can’t, including the air-conditioner. Helping top up that battery was 900 Watts of aerodynamic and flexible solar panels.
The Airstream Basecamp was one of the first trailers to get technology from the eStream when in the 2023 model year, Airstream bumped the solar power up to 300 Watts, a 120-watt upgrade from the previous model year. The 2024 Trade Wind, a new model, is the latest to get gear inspired by the eStream, and it’s going even further. But at the same time, it also looks back at the past.
The name is a reference to the Airstream Trade Wind, a travel trailer Airstream sold in the late 1950s through the 1960s that boasted “the spaciousness of a larger trailer with the mobility of a smaller unit.” It was a fully-loaded travel trailer that Airstream said was the perfect camper to travel the world with. Today, Airstream believes the old Trade Wind was one of the first campers that worked without shore power. Technically, all campers work without shore power, but I can see what the company is trying to go for there.
Airstream is continuing much of that idea with the new 2024 Trade Wind.
The travel trailer starts with Airstream’s familiar “silver bullet” riveted aluminum body. The 2024 Trade Wind is available in just one length, 26 feet, and just one interior layout, 25FB. Airstream says this layout is one of its most popular in other trailers, so the company is just giving its fans what they want. The exterior of this trailer really doesn’t look any different than you’re used to, at least until you start poking around.
At ground level, you’ll spot the trailer’s standard three-inch lift kit and its 29.3-inch Goodyear Wrangler Workhorse 225/75R16 tires. Airstream says it lifted the trailer so you can go boondocking in places other Airstreams might not be able to reach. It’s not a true off-roading trailer, but it should be able to survive a fire road or something similar to get you to that perfect camping spot.
Moving to the roof, you’ll find 600 Watts of solar panels. Airstream says that Trade Wind doubles the energy harvesting capacity that you’d find in other Airstream models. A monitoring system and an app come with the solar panels so you can better manage your power.
Down below the floor is where you’ll find what the solar panels are charging. Airstream says the 2024 Trade Wind comes equipped with three chassis-integrated 270Ah heated Lithium Battle Born batteries. These add up to the aforementioned 810 Ah battery bank. For a comparison, Airstream says the batteries provide four times the capacity of most other Airstream models. Sadly, Airstream doesn’t say how long it thinks these batteries will keep you going. Airstream also doesn’t say for how long it can run the 15,000 BTU air-conditioner. Still, four times the capacity and the ability to run appliances from the batteries is pretty awesome.
Step inside the trailer and you’ll find Airstream’s typical lavish interior. As I said before, you get one layout, but two décor packages. Both of them net you aluminum and oak laminate walls, and your main choice is between gray cushions and an earthy countertop laminate or orange cushions and a gray countertop. Airstream says these interiors have been reinforced to tackle rough roads and they include extra features to secure cabinets during transit.
Everything in here is what you’d expect from Airstream from a full kitchen to a full bathroom. Airstream says optional equipment includes a composting toilet, a convection microwave with an air fryer, awning packages, and a rear hatch door with a sliding screen. Should you choose the microwave, it will replace the oven that sits under the three-burner stove. Everything else, from the LED lighting to the lift kit and the battery system comes standard. All of the electrical gear routes through a 3000w inverter/charger that Airstream says boasts 1,000 Watts over most other models. It allows both that optional microwave and the air-conditioner to run at the same time.
The 2024 Airstream Trade Wind sleeps five thanks to a queen bed and a convertible dinette. Next year, the company plans on switching things up with double twin beds as an option to replace the queen bed. In terms of holding tanks, you’re getting 39-gallon tanks each for fresh water, gray water, and waste.
Of course, batteries aren’t light and thus, this trailer weighs in at 6,200 pounds before you add water and gear. For comparison, my family’s Thor Adirondack is about seven feet longer and weighs about the same.
Airstream says the 2024 Trade Wind slots between its International and Globetrotter models. It’s available at Airstream dealerships starting today for a base price of $129,400. Of course, you can buy entire houses for that. But if you have the cash, Airstream says you’re getting the most capable travel trailer it’s put on the market in its 92-year history. The company notes that none of the other trailers in its history can come close to the boondocking ability of the Trade Wind. Hopefully, we’ll get to try it out for ourselves and get to let the noisy generator take a break.
I like the interior design of the new Tradewind, but they really missed the mark in a few places. This trailer is basically a Flying Cloud (Airstream’s “lower” trim line), but they’ve priced it between the International and Globetrotter trims, which are the two levels above the Flying Cloud. Both of those models get much higher quality countertops and other finishes. Yes, it has added power gear, but not enough to justify an enormous price jump. They also used flexible panels, which are absolute garbage. They’re very inefficient compared to flat glass panels, get even worse when they get hot, get hotter than glass panels because there’s no airflow under them, and are known to actually burn the surface they’re attached to. Also, since they’re flush to the roof they’ll transfer more heat to the interior, as opposed to glass panels that keep sunlight off of the body. 600w isn’t very much either. You can fit 800w of glass panels on the top of a 25FB without much trouble.
At least they’re using Victron charge controllers and inverters (and the CerboGX to control it all)
As several other posters mentioned, they’ve stuck with the standard 120v 15k BTU air conditioner instead of switching to a far more efficient 12v unit. I run a similar AC off of the batteries in my current trailer and unless you’re feeding in power from another source you’re only going to get a few hours of AC use.
The 3” lift is a pretty common install for Airstream owners. It’s made by Dexter (the manufacturer of the axles Airstream uses), costs a few hundred dollars, and is literally a block that you install by unbolting the axle (2 bolts per side), sliding the block in, and bolting the axle back on.
Obviously there’s something to be said for buying it right from the manufacturer ready to go, but you can get a higher trim Airstream, and have a much better solar system installed, for less money.
Guessing that solar & battery system is 12 volt.
Those roof mount AC units are terribly inefficient. It will draw 15-16 amps at 120 volts. With only 600 watts incoming, you will not run the AC long. And, flat mounted solar panels lose much output. To realistically run that AC all day in the hot summer, you need to be looking at 1500-2000 watts of solar minimum.
We have 480 watts of solar and 300 amp hours of lithium batteries on our RV. I run a 2000 watt inverter. 100 watts of the solar is a portable panel in case we get parked in shade.We can run everything but the roof mount AC.
To seriously look at running AC from solar & batteries, a high efficiency mini-split unit needs to be in the conversation.
I like it as a full timer model, but full timers tend to go for the 30′ one. There’s no reason to have all those expensive batteries there for 4-5 camping weekends a year (just buy an inverter generator). It’s going to be an expensive battery replacement in 6-7 years, but at least they are using a standard product that is likely to have replacement support down the road. Bottom line is that Airstreams are expensive, but this isn’t as expensive as I would have expected it to be.
This is a nice option for Airstream because they don’t sell trailers with integrated generators.
The plus for those lithium batteries is they are warrantied for 10 years, and should last 15-20 years if treated well.
The fact that you left for a trip with batteries you knew were probably bad is pretty unique in my experience. 😛
IMHO boondocking is all about setting expectations appropriately. I have boondocked for six nights on a pair of little group 24 batteries. No, I wasn’t running the AC, microwave, coffee maker, or whatever other stuff people think they can’t live without, but I did charge my phone and laptop, have a shower every day, cold drinks from the propane-powered fridge, and just generally had a very pleasant camping experience. It would have been even better if my neighbors would do the same and not run their generators all night while they sit in the trailer watching movies on a 55″ TV (I will never understand this).
These days I have a 100W solar panel that more than covers all of my use so at the end of the week my batteries were still effectively full. Boondocking is only really a problem if it’s extremely hot or cold, or if you’re expecting a remote campsite to provide every single comfort of home.
If this keeps people from running generators then I’m all for it, but you don’t need 800 Ah of battery and a roof full of solar to boondock.
/soapbox
This is a good take on boondocking. In many ways the trailers from 2-3 years ago and older were better for boondocking. I like my propane fridge and storage hot water heater, as well as propane range and oven. I don’t have solar or even an inverter. The move away from propane in many trailers makes them much less capable to boondock.
I’m also not a fan of these huge campers with bunches of slides. My in-laws have a 40’+ 5th wheel with a garage in the back. They have 3 TV’s and 1 1/2 bathrooms for 2 people. I have a 23′ with no slides and we put our family of 5 in it. When my kids were younger, we had a 16′. The point for us is to have someplace to sleep and prepare meals, but we should be outside unless it’s raining or something. We have a Clam screenroom for extra space outside the camper. The TV doesn’t come on unless it’s raining or something, but usually we just find an indoor sightseeing activity for that day.
I thought Airstreams always (maybe last >10 years or so?) had a standard interface for solar panels, is this just increasing the battery and making panels standard fare?
My 2007 is prepped for solar, but I don’t have any. I think a small solar system (100-200 watts) is standard now, because they have gone to 12V refrigerators instead of propane a few years ago.
Based on my experiences trying to use solar panels while camping to charge my stuff I have my doubts those panels will actually put out anywhere near what their rated for. Trees, clouds, oblique angles, bird crap etc all conspire to cut charging power. Especially so as these panels don’t appear to be tiltable.
Its one thing to move a small backpacking panel around to compensate, another completely to have to move a whole trailer to follow the sun.
Same experience. In open, unobstructed sunlight, prime time for solar is roughly 11 AM to 2 PM or less depending on latitude. One can stretch prime time by angling panels and/or adding a reflector, but those tactics have their own costs.
For our use case, I installed as many panels as I could fit on the roof knowing they would never achieve their advertised maximum output.
Interesting that they only put 600w on there with that much battery capacity (knowing the voltage there would be nice). I guess if you start the trip off with a full charge, you might be able to last a while even if the solar can’t keep up.
Curious what their air conditioner specs are. The 20yr old 13.5k BTU unit on my motorhome (also 25′ long) pulls ~1500w running. If it’s a newer inverter unit I would hope that would be less so they can get longer run time.
The above shot with the panels is also interesting. I’m assuming those are 100w panels (x6). They gave up a lot of space trying not to be on the curved part of the trailer. My motorhome roof is much flatter (and far less exciting looking than an Airstream) and I can fit 1100w on it without too much effort. I have 800w on there now (4x 200w). I’m rocking a 3kw inverter but only 200AH@12v of battery for now.
It looks like the panels are flexible, are flexible panels less efficient than the stiff ones? Seems like they could cram more on there. Also the loose cables seem kinda DIY for such a fancy trailer, but I’m no solar expert.
I’m using flexibles on mine and they are less efficient and more expensive, but much lighter and easier to work with.
And, yeah, the wiring is pretty close to what my DIY setup looks like. I would also expect a bit better from a fancy manufacturer.
In the past, flexible solar panels offered much shorter lifespans than rigid. Maybe the flexibles available today are more resilient.
My first and only flexible panel lasted one season mounted on a nearly-flat surface.
I think the big problem with the flexibles has been heat. Hopefully the aluminum roof will help dissipate that, but the higher-end ones have also switched from PET (does poorly in heat) to ETFE (more expensive, more durable), which helps a lot. Still takes the efficiency hit from the higher temp, but doesn’t die after a couple years of use.
Yeah, that battery bank will run the AC a good portion of the day (~4hrs flat out on a really hot day), but it’ll only refill about 10-30% of the energy via solar per day. Not so great for extended off-grid.
Looks like they went for a Coleman Mach 15,000 BTU. Efficiency’s not really any better than yours, and it’s definitely not an inverter unit. Would have been nice if they’d at least sprung for the Recpro/Houghton considering the price.
This sort of thing, at least in terms of energy storage and solar is pretty common in DIY and aftermarket conversions, but it’s nice to see someone other than van builders doing this.
My wife and I spent most of the last 9 years traveling the country in our RV ( and a boat ) and the most recent one ( sitting in the driveway now, not plugged in since about January ) has 800W of solar and 5kWh of LiFePO4 batteries, all of which was installed in early 2016 and has been in use almost constantly since then. On both the RV and the boat we live without shore power most of the time.
I agree with your point.
At the same time a significant difference being the inclusion of an electric motor on the airstream greatly reducing the lost range pulling any non-self propelling trailer
Is the front of that trailer all glass? Some of the interior shots suggest as much.
It looks like the hatch/door is open in the pictures, seems like a nice place to sit and drink a coffee.
That’s the back hatch — the center panel in the rear can hinge up, forming sort of a “back porch” and “patio door” effect.
810 Ahr at what voltage? If that’s at 24 or 48 volts or something…that’s a crapton of power. That’s someplace between 10kwh and 33kwh (12-48v). 33kwhr is a LOT of power, it’s about how much power my home uses per day during the summer. 600 watts though…is sorta pathetic. A 26 foot trailer you can only fit 600 watts?
Sadly, Airstream does not state the voltage. If it were provided, I would have listed the capacity in kWh to match the specs of the eStream. The product page is now live and still doesn’t state voltage.
Hopefully, Airstream will get back to me about that spec and how long it expects the batteries to last.
The spec page for the trailer says:
810Ah 9.72kWh, so they’re 12v batteries.
Thats too bad. Its not like 10kwh isn’t enough, it just means heavier cables and more heat. Would have been cool to step it up to 48 or more volts to make for running high amp loads like AC easier and just leaving one or 2 batteries for low amp loads with a step down for charging.
Agreed. There is or are 48-volt AC unit(s), which would have made it possible to avoid the 3K inverter and its inherent losses.
Not creating a 48-volt system for the AC is dumb for several reasons.
Looking at what Battleborn offers for RV batteries, I’d bet a shiny nickel that it’s a 12V system. In which case you’re going to need a gas generator anyway if you’re going to run the AC.
Yeah, I’d bet on 12V too, since they are Battle Borns. That would be just shy of 10kw. Probably enough to run the AC for 3 hours or so, but maybe a bit longer with the contribution of the solar panels. It’s very useless for them to list 810Ah without a voltage.
The batteries are for sure 12, but they could have run them in series. Sounds like its 12 all the way however.
You could fit more, but in keeping with the rounded shape of the trailer, they’re using flexible panels.
I’ll be curious to see how that works out since those have typically had short lives because of UV degradation of the plastic surfaces ( flat panels are normally glass ) and heat degradation of the panels because there’s no airflow behind the panels.
There is one theme in all these RV reviews. Features cost money, weight, and size.
Airstream had already the “money” part covered, now they’re just doubling down.