Power, Water & Comfort
in the Wild

Start by listing your daily electrical loads in watt-hours (Wh). A 12V compressor fridge uses ~40Ah/day. A laptop is ~30–50Wh/charge. Lighting, fans, and phone charging add another 30–50Wh. Total that up, multiply by 1.25 for inefficiency losses, then size your battery for 2–3 days of autonomy without sun. Your panel wattage should be able to fully recharge that battery in 4–6 peak sun hours. Most full-time van lifers land on 200–600W of solar.

Budget roughly 4–8 liters per person per day for drinking and cooking only (no showering). Add 5–10L/day if you plan to wash dishes and do basic hygiene from your van sink. For a solo traveler refilling every 3 days, a 40L tank is comfortable. Couples living full-time typically run 60–100L. Going off-grid for a week at a time? Size up to 100–150L or consider a roof-mounted secondary tank. Always add a shut-off valve between tank and pump for easy servicing.

Diesel air heaters (Webasto, Espar, or the popular Chinese Vevor/generic units) are the gold standard for van life in cold climates. They burn diesel from your vehicle's fuel tank, produce no combustion gases inside the van, and sip electricity to run the blower. A quality unit puts out 2,000–5,000W of heat for just 0.1–0.4L/hr of diesel. Propane heaters (Mr. Heater Buddy) work for occasional use but require ventilation and are not recommended for overnight sleeping. Avoid electric resistance heaters — they'll destroy your battery bank in hours.

Build a layered connectivity stack. Layer 1: cellular data via a multi-carrier hotspot router (GL.iNet or Pepwave) with SIMs from two or three carriers for redundancy. Layer 2: a cell signal booster with roof antenna for remote areas with weak signal. Layer 3: Starlink Roam for areas with no cellular. Layer 4: an offline navigation app (Gaia GPS or OsmAnd) with downloaded maps for when everything else fails. A Garmin inReach satellite communicator adds two-way messaging and SOS capability anywhere on Earth.

Not strictly necessary, but highly recommended as a backup. A 30A shore power inlet mounted to the exterior lets you plug into any campground hookup or standard outlet and charge your lithium bank quickly. It costs $100–$200 to add and is essentially free insurance. If you have an inverter/charger combo (like a Victron MultiPlus), shore power charges your batteries while simultaneously powering your 120V loads. It's the difference between a day of rest and a day of scrambling to find sun during a week of overcast weather in the Pacific Northwest.