Prior to this week, the terms "world's largest electric motorhome" and "1,000-km range" could have led to only one conclusion: one of China's latest high-mileage extended range electric vehicle (EREV) platforms got outfitted with a big motorhome box. But the most massive electric motorhome we spotted at this year's Düsseldorf Caravan Salon wasn't a range-extender, and it wasn't Chinese. The Dutch-German collaboration is a pure-battery-powered long-haul Mercedes-Benz Actros truck with a self-contained fuel-free motorhome out back. And not only was it one of the most impressive vehicles of the entire show, it's about to further impress with an around-the-world road trip that targets a range as high as 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) per charge.
We'd like to say the big rig RV in question is a new big (really big) brother of the new Marco Polo in Mercedes' official camper van lineup, but this one is a one-off project created by Daimler Trucks, Bliss Mobil and content creator and electric logistics veteran Tobias Wagner. A truck driver by trade and entrepreneur by nature, Wagner has spent the past two years driving electric trucks for freight company Nanno Janssen, and documenting his experiences on YouTube under the handle "Elektrotrucker."
With the specially equipped eActros 600, Wagner aims to take e-truck logistics to an entirely new level by completing a world-first global circumnavigation in a pure-electric truck. To make the accompanying YouTube video series as intriguing and catchy as possible, he's calling the project "Around the World in 80 Charging Stops."
Under ordinary trucking conditions, with a big, fully loaded semi-trailer in back, the eActros 600's massive 621-kWh triple-LFP battery pack is designed to drive up to an estimated 500 km (310 miles) per charge. That range would ultimately leave Wagner short on his ultimate 45,000-km/28K-mile in 80-stop charging goal by at least 4,500 km (2,800 miles).
That said, the eActros in question will be much lighter than a tractor-trailer carrying full payload. The original chassis rolled off Daimler's lines at the Wörth am Rhein plant before finding its way to aftermarket partners who built it up for global expedition use. As Wagner detailed in talking to German Television, the truck's stock dually rear tire set-up has been stripped back to a single pair of tires, a change that cuts rolling resistance and weight.
The expedition truck's max weight drops to 15,500 kg (34,170 lb) from this change, down from the 22,000-kg (48,500-lb) gross vehicle weight rating on the standard eActros 600. The truck is powered by Mercedes' dual-motor electric rear axle with integrated four-speed transmission. This setup sends up to 536 hp of continuous power to the rear wheels, with available peak power bursts up to 805 hp for passing, hill climbs and other situations that demand a quick burst of extra muscle.
With the help of some hypermiling driving techniques, both Wagner and Mercedes believe it possible to squeeze out up to 1,000 km per charge, doubling the standard range estimate. Wagner won't need to hit that ceiling on every stretch of road, but add a few single-charge 1,000-km legs in, and hitting 45,000 km after 80 stops becomes readily attainable.
Hitting that type of range will also prove essential in more remote sections of the trip, where charging stations prove few and far between: long stretches in Central Asia and on the Pan-American Highway, for instance.
When it does come time to charge, the eActros in question includes a specially prepared charging system that features 400-kW CCS2 fast-charging ports on both sides for convenient charging in and beyond Europe, a GBT adapter for China and a CCS1 adapter for North America. Mercedes estimates 400-kW charging time at 70 minutes.
The truck chassis has also been prepped for 1.2-megawatt MCS charging that will ultimately offer 30-minute charges for the eActros' massive battery pack, but Wagner does not intend to use that hardware. There are currently only a very limited number of MCS-capable charging stations in the US and China.
The biggest addition the truck received, of course, is the 13-foot (4.1-m) Bliss Mobil camper module on its back, all dressed up to match the cab. That will ensure Wagner has a comfy place to stay after long stretches on the road and even during charging stops.
Unlike the past couple of Bliss models we've looked at, this 13-footer features a fixed hard roof in place of a lifting roof. Inside, it houses a cozy space with a U-shaped dinette up front, a kitchen in the middle across from the entry, and a bathroom in back.
Instead of relying on the convertible dinette to sleep, Wagner will enjoy sleeping on the unit's drop-down bed, which stows near the ceiling over the dinette during the day. This bed gives the unit the ability to sleep a total of four when combined with the convertible dining area, but since Wagner is only traveling with a small canine copilot named Krümelix, the setup will give him the ability to have discreet sleeping and work/dining/lounge spaces instead of having to convert between the two every night and morning. That should greatly streamline a journey that will include regular posts, videos and updates to various social media channels.
Critically, given the aim of this trip, the Bliss Mobil unit runs completely free of diesel, gasoline and LPG, operating purely on electric power to match the all-electric nature of the eActros truck. It includes a 400-Ah lithium battery backed up by 1,000 watts of solar. That system will power critical onboard amenities like the dual-burner induction cooktop, fridge/freezer, microwave, macerator toilet, air conditioner and water pump.
Unlike other expedition motorhome builders, Bliss Mobil creates self-contained units made to operate completely independently of the truck. That means the electrical and plumbing hardware are all contained within the module, not secured to the truck. In this way, the full module can simply add off-grid living capabilities to a truck chassis, then detach and move the same level of capabilities to a different chassis.
The only thing connecting the eActros 600 to the Bliss module besides the mounting hardware, then, is a 24-V electrical connection that allows the motorhome to draw power from the chassis battery when necessary. It doesn't sound like Wagner will rely on this capability often, as the idea is to dedicate as much traction battery power as possible to long-range driving. But it is there if needed to run critical RV systems.
Bliss Mobil's standard 13-foot units include diesel heating, but since this one has been designed to run on 100% electricity without any fossil fuel usage, that heater has been axed from the spec list. The module does maintain the floor heating system that runs solely on electricity.
The rig carries a 400-liter fresh water tank. Bliss Mobil's 13-foot modules also come standard with a multi-stage water treatment system with dual UV filtration, sediment filtration and active carbon filtration. A smart home command system keeps tabs on all the equipment and appliances and gives users hassle-free centralized control.
As for the claim of this being the world's largest battery-electric motorhome, that one comes from us, not from the team behind the build. Both ChatGPT and Google Gemini point to the Entegra Embark that Thor Industries introduced last year as the existing largest in the world. That's not a pure-electric vehicle to begin with, since most of its driving mileage comes from a range-extender engine, but even broadening the category out to electrified motorhomes, the Entegra falls well short of the Bliss-topped eActros' gross vehicle weight and overall imposing, heavy-duty commercial truck size.
In fact, the eActros 600 chassis weighs more than the Entegra's 10,000-kg (22,000-lb) GVWR before adding a feather's worth of payload, checking in with an 11,700-kg (25,800-lb) curb weight. As cited previously, the eActros expedition vehicle's GVWR drops in at 15,500 kg, thousands of kilograms over the Entegra.
Wagner's eActros 600 motorhome is probably a little shorter than the Entegra, however. The truck's specific length was not listed on the Düsseldorf exhibit or in any of the information out there, but we do know that the Mercedes cab is 2.3 meters (7.5 feet) long and the Bliss module 4.1 meters (13.5 feet), bringing us to 6.4 meters (21 feet). We're not sure how long the spare tire-carrying space between those two is, but we'd guess it's about 1 to 1.5 meters (3.3 to 4.9 feet), definitely not the 3 meters (9.8 feet) it'd need to be to meet the Embark's 9.4-m (30.8-ft) Class A length.
But again, the Embark isn't a fully electric motorhome to begin with. Looking back through our years of coverage of all-electric campers to focus solely on pure-electric motorhomes, not concepts or trailers, we found exactly two models that could compete with the Bliss eActros rig in terms of length alone: the 7.4-m (24.3-ft) Grounded G2 and the 7-m (23-ft) Iridium. But while those might be comparable in length, neither has the eActros' big rig weight or presence, both rolling in way short of its 15.5-tonne weight class.
As a side note, the Iridium appears to be long discontinued, the Grounded G2 not long for this world since GM discontinued the entire BrightDrop van line last year.
So, to put a bow on it: Wagner's eActros 600 is the biggest, meanest, gnarliest electric motorhome we've ever seen. And it's already out there touring streets and exhibition halls, soon to be roaming the literal world at large.
One last feature that sets the Bliss eActros 600 apart as a veritable expedition machine is the motorcycle carrier it has in back. It was folded up at the Caravan Salon to squeeze the rig in the tight booth space, but photo and video show it carrying the accompanying Honda WN7 e-moto to extend the base truck's world-touring capability. If the road or trail should narrow too much for the eActros motorhome to continue onward, Wagner can always hop out and saddle up on the accompanying 67-hp WN7. It has a 9.3-kWh NMC battery and has been wrapped up neatly in matching livery.
We never expected to see a price on something like this, but this one wore a very neat pricing breakdown that showed quite transparently the €300,000 eActros 600 plus €235,000 Bliss Mobil and €31,500 in accessories adding up to €566,500. After tacking on the 21% in VAT, the total came out to a cool €685,465 (approx. US$796,600). The Honda WN7 bike wasn't listed on that price sheet, but at under €15K to start, it's a mere drop in the bucket, anyway.
Bliss Mobil, Mercedes-Benz Trucks and Wagner held the eActros 600 motorhome's debut at Germany's Abenteuer & Allrad (Adventure & Allwheel) show earlier this summer before Bliss showed it again in Düsseldorf. Wagner plans to kick off his yearlong 45,000-km journey through 35 countries in just a few days at IAA Transportation, which gets underway on Monday, September 14. If interested, you can follow along on his YouTube as well as other social channels, including Instagram.
Sources: Bliss Mobil, Daimler, Elektrotrucker and German TV
