EV camping at the coast
Earlier this week we decided to try out a quick camping trip in our VW Buzz EV at Beverly Beach State Park, just outside of Newport, Oregon.
It's only 75 miles away from home so with our 230mi battery, we didn't even need to charge, but more importantly, we wanted to use this trip to test out what sleeping inside the van was like.
Rain was in the forecast so we brought along two awnings to keep us dry. The one attached to our van here is a MoonFab MoonShade, which is basically like a tent that you assemble, and the top sticks to the sunroof glass using suction cups.
Over the picnic table we used a cheap 10 x 10 foot awning we got at a big box store. This comes in clutch on any camping trip we take as it lets us keep our cookware and eating area dry no matter what happens (usually we enjoy it for added shade).
We're still big fans of using electricity as much as possible while camping and on this trip, while we forgot to pack our nice induction cooktop, we grabbed a cheap double hotplate at a Walmart to cook on. The first night we had some amazing green curry with broccoli, snap peas, and chicken with some cilantro lime rice.
We happened to get an RV spot in the tent camping loop of the park, so that meant we had a 120v electrical box to keep our EcoFlow battery topped up at all times. The battery kept our cooktop going, our ice chest refrigerated, and our ambient lights on.
Beverly Beach is right on the Pacific Ocean, so it was great to take a clichéd long walk on the beach at sunset to enjoy the waves, the driftwood, the rock formations, and the fossils found all over.
After a bunch of card games and tea, we called it a night and settled into the van.
The Exped Luxemat Auto is a fantastic bit of gear. It inflates into a 4" thick air mattress with foam inside and is perfectly sized to take up almost the entire back-end of the VW Buzz. It is crazy expensive but I can honestly say it rivaled our mattress at home. With their powered inflator, we could set it up firm and as a side sleeper I had no trouble sleeping on the lie-flat seats in the back, with a warm comforter on top and a good pillow from home.
I didn't think it would be so comfortable, but the VW Buzz really could be one hell of a road trip vehicle with the sleep mat in the back. We cracked the front windows very slightly and didn't have any condensation problems inside the van. The next day, the state of charge on the battery was the same it was when we went to bed (the VW doesn't yet have a "camp mode" that lets you run the HVAC at night while parked, hopefully they add this with software updates someday).
The next morning, we woke up to tons of rain and after a long slow waking up we took some showers in the campground then drove into Newport to enjoy the Oregon Coast Aquarium (packed with people also avoiding the rain) and had some fresh seafood on the waterfront.
The rain never let up, and flooded out much of the campgrounds when we returned in the afternoon. We took some long lazy naps for a few hours while the rain lulled us to sleep.
That evening, we decided to call it early and head home (we originally had a reservation for four days) and it seemed like most of the campers made the same choice we did. The trip was less than 200 miles in total so we didn't have to charge the VW Buzz though we did get a couple hours of slow charging at the aquarium parking lot that added about 10% battery back.
Even though we had to cut our trip short due to pummeling rain in June, the trip overall was a success. The VW Buzz can camp like a champ, and we found sleeping on the Exped mat super comfortable. As long as you're within range of major cities with fast chargers (we had multiple options in Newport if we needed them), the VW Buzz is a great vacation vehicle for lazy summer trips in the mountains, forests, or at the beach.
