This Smart Trailer Unfolds Into a Two-Bedroom Tiny House
The love child of the glamping, tiny home, and hacker movements, this French high-tech trailer takes camping light years into the future with the help of its self-sufficient green innovations.
Recently unveiled at the German trade show Dusseldorf Caravan Salon, the sCarabane from Green Cat Technologies basically looks like a horse trailer from the outside, but unfolds to reveal a completely off-the-grid mobile tiny home powered by wind and solar clean energy.
According to Curbed, the sCarabane only takes 30 minutes to set up at a campsite, and features a circular track onto which the trailer is unfolded and which allows it to rotate and move 360 degrees to follow the sun. There’s also a wind turbine on the roof that can generate up to 500 watts of clean power, all stored within the 5,000-lb trailer unit.
Interior features of the silver Transformer of a pop-up camper-cum-tiny home include an 80-square-foot master bedroom with fold-out desk, a smaller 59-square-foot bedroom with two twin beds, and a banquette dining area for six that converts into a third sleeping area.
Indoor plumbing features in the single bathroom include a toilet, sink, shower, and even a compact washing machine, with water heated using the solar and wind energy harnessed from all that green tech enhancement.
For ambient light and heat inside the truly mobile home, a series of “rose windows” with petal-like filters (that look a little bit like a vintage Viewfinder toy) can be manually adjusted to each occupant’s desired level of brightness and warmth.
One of the best parts of the design, however, is the “glamping” entertaining areas: a full galley kitchen (featuring sink, countertops, three-burner propane stove, microwave, and large fridge) that open to a deck the length of the trailer (26 feet), complete with mini bar and barstools.
Using the self-harnessed and -stored electricity, the sCarabane can also power a flat screen TV for rainy day entertainment and news of the world, and charge laptops and other devices for “working remotely.”
A bit meta: the entire solar/wind-generated system is controlled by a smart panel located in the kitchen, also powered by the solar/wind-generated system.
In development since 2013 — first by Fillon Technologies, then finished up last month by Green Cat Technologies — the sCarabane is still a concept vehicle, but if it makes it to market it will join the Volkswagen’s new “smart” California XXL and Winnebago’s Paseo EcoBoost in pushing the bleeding-edge technology and sustainability envelopes of camping trailer, RV and camper design.
View a full photo gallery of the sCarabane trailer over on New Atlas.