All Electric Orion

I think it still has some gas fuelled equipment so not entirely electric-or have I made that up .  The all electric Eldis never sold and they gave up on it quite quickly.  I agree with you DD; seems like a blind alley to me.  Baileys development section seems to be in overdrive.  Not produced a slide out yet though?

mel

You're right Lady Mel. It does have gas for the two burner hob.

However I have never seen a gas mover

Am I looking at the same van ?

It looks like they have moved the gas locker to the side of the door .

orion-evo-4

For proper caravanners who never have an ehu not worth even thinking about! But yes the CL owners won't like it and then we'd all be paying even more!!!!

Don't suppose they will be much fun on a 6amp supply or even less in europe.....

Best thing about it is that it is has silver sides - doesn't show up well in the pictures but it has. I think it really helps the looks and as the sides are GRP, no worries about denting. 

It doesn't have normal heating either - it has a plinth heater like you'd have in a holiday home so I can see the lounge and the washroom being a bit parky in cold weather!

I can't understand why a manufacturer hasn't developed a new model which utilises solar energy and 12v absorbed glass mat high capacity leisure batteries. Such a caravan could still be used on a conventional pitch with 240v ehu with a couple of built in 240v sockets as normal but with lightweight solar panels, the solar power regulator, power inverters, chargers for cell phones and more 12v sockets built in during the manufacturing process rather than as d-i-y after market add ons.

Greater battery capacity would be more useful than a microwave oven and the caravan would have first class 'green' credentials with no 240v lighting.

The fridge, stove and heater could be run on lpg with no 240v power supply to either and with solar charging there would be a saving because the solar power would keep the battery topped up and there would be less power drawn from the ehu.

Caravan manufacturers could also have a look at incorporating fuel cells which were mentioned by Surfer here to provide 12v power during the hours of darkness and in winter.

The 'all electric' idea has been tried before and didn't look as though it was an unqualified success although as 'proper caravanners' we wouldn't see many of them about anyway.

Cost.

Cheaper to do what they know *might* sell. Or in the case of the Evo, something which won't, but will get us talking about a 18 month old van in the run up to a major show. I'm sure we'll get a press release after the show about "unprecendented demand for silver Orion" "big success" and rolled out across the whole Orion line-up as a special editon for just £1000 premium"

Surely they could have done the same thing using solar technology to boost sales on the Orion or even as a 'concept caravan' for the shows in order to gauge the reaction.

The manufacturer would be adding something to an existing model which could increase it's appeal rather than restrict the caravan to sites with ehu which could limit appeal to some degree.

I'd have thought that a special edition 'green' caravan would have had a greater impact in the non caravan press in terms of publicity and a £1000 special edition premium would more than cover the cost of installing solar tech and good leisure batteries.

One of these days a manufacturer is sure to risk an investment in a mainly solar powered or 'hybrid' caravan.

Concept idea is an interesting one - I think Bailey view this as a concept unit, but one which you can buy if you want - a bit of bet hedging going on!

For the majority of caravan buyers at present though, they want to murder the mains supply to get everything out of it and not pay for gas. Solar would make sense, apart from the fact it is a more expensive option. It is deffo a greener option!