Campervan or motorhome: how many days can you stay self-sufficient without plugging in? It all depends on the month.
Off-grid runtime is not a property of the battery: it is a daily balance between what your panels produce, what the alternator recovers while driving, and what you use. The same van lasts a week in July in Andalusia and two days in January in Scotland, with no change of hardware.
This simulator uses the solar irradiation actually measured by PVGIS (European Commission) for 19 regions of Europe and North Africa, month by month. The fridge, by far the biggest consumer, is computed by our model calibrated on consumption figures published by Dometic, Vitrifrigo and Isotherm. The result comes as three weather scenarios, never as a single number: between a grey day and a bright one, the same panel varies by a factor of four.
Click a dot on the map to change region. The colour shows how much sun that region gets in the selected month: switch months and the map dims or brightens. With a keyboard, the arrow keys move from one region to the next.
What you use
litres
Living on board
h/day
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Kitchen
h/day
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Comfort and climate
h/day
h/day
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Screens and office
h/day
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Mobility
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Cleaning
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Health and children
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Your runtime (starting from a full battery)
Overcast2.6days
Average monthIndefiniteCharging covers your use: the bank never runs down.
Full sunIndefiniteCharging covers your use: the bank never runs down.
Daily consumption
666 Wh
Total charging
717 Wh
Daily consumption666 Wh
Fridge share83 %
Solar production747 Wh
Charging while driving0 Wh
Daily balance+52 Wh
Energy you can actually use1152 Wh
Your trip
days
100 %50 %0 %
OvercastAverage monthFull sun
OvercastFlat on day 3
Average monthNever drops below 100 %
Full sunNever drops below 100 %
Sunlight: horizontal irradiation measured by PVGIS (European Commission), 2016-2020 average. Fridge consumption comes from our model, calibrated on 15 consumption figures published by Dometic and Mobicool. Charge and conversion efficiencies are usual values, not measurements of your own installation. Fine-tune the fridge calculation.