Pebble Flow EV Travel Trailer: Glamping Goes Electric

One of great joys camping it’s silence. There’s nothing worse than being out in the wilderness, away from society, and then hearing someone in one camp fire up a loud, smelly gas generator.

Pebble, the California company that’s building a new travel trailer, is hoping an electric caravan is just the thing to bring a little quiet to glamping life.

Pebble stream is a travel trailer with a big old radiator in the floor. It can control lights, showers, heating and air conditioning, and everything else you might need in the woods. The battery also powers the tow assist feature, so the Flow can provide an extra boost when you’re towing it down the road, easing the load on the vehicle you’re using to haul the camper.

Pebble first announced Flow in 2023, but until now it hasn’t revealed the full range of features it plans to include in the camper. In an announcement during CES week, Pebble says it will assemble and deliver its first campers in the first half of 2025. They’re available for pre-order now starting at $109,000, but if you want to be able to purchase them, the price can rise to $135,500. control its functions using the companion mobile application.

In the flow

Flow has the same aesthetic as many modern models. electric carswith large windows and soft curved elements that make it more aerodynamic. It looks like a futuristic luxury spaceship or a really big fancy toaster, depending on how romantic you want to be about it. CEO Bingrui Yang is very romantic about it: He chose the name Pebble for the company because smooth rocks found in nature bring joy to people, and he wants the electrified camper to promote the same sense of calm.

I had the opportunity to wander around the confined space of the Pebble Flow demo facility at Pebble headquarters in Fremont, California. It has almost everything you might need if you are traveling in an RV. Inside is a kitchen with induction hob, convection oven, sink, microwave and refrigerator. The cabinets have ample storage space and there are hidden hatches in the floor for additional storage. Most windows open if you need to let in a breeze. In the rear is a double Murphy bed that tucks into the wall to create more space. The dinette table can be dismantled into a second bed at the other end of the trailer. The bathroom and shower are located right in the middle of the floor plan. A glass wall separates it from the rest of the interior, but a person in the bathroom can press a button to electronically freeze the glass if they need a separate toilet.

To a seasoned RV enthusiast, all of this probably seems like standard fare for a trailer costing over a hundred thousand. Well, you’re right, but Pebble is hoping its EV-like add-ons will make the Flow special.

The Flow is powered by a 45 kWh lithium-ion battery built into the floor of the camper. That’s slightly smaller than the batteries built into compact electric vehicles currently on the market, and about half the size of the largest EV batteries in the auto industry. Pebble claims the battery can power internal systems for up to seven days on a full charge. A set of 1kW solar panels built into the roof can partially charge the battery while you’re on the road, and regenerative charging kicks in while you’re towing. It also features vehicle boot technology so you can connect to Flow and use it as a backup power source or EV charger.

The Pebble Flow is not actually an electric car on wheels in the sense that it can function as a stand-alone vehicle. You’ll need another rig to tow it anywhere. Pebble says that while towing a hybrid or gas-powered vehicle will likely get you further, you may be able to tow it with another electric vehicle. A 25-foot trailer with all options weighs 6,200 pounds, so moving it will require strength. Pebble’s website shows the Flow towing a Cybertruck. (When I was at the company’s headquarters, I noticed a matte black Cybertruck in the parking lot. It belongs to Pebble’s CTO, who talked a lot about it while I was there.)

The power tow assist feature can be activated while the Flow is in motion. While the motors provide a decent amount of push compared to a real car, they’re powerful enough to give the Flow a bit of a wiggle using a smartphone app, even though it only moves at about 1 mph on its own. This is enough to spin it in a very slow circle, but not enough to go down the block. What it does allow you to do is pull the trailer into place at your campsite without having to push and pull it with your car. Simply detach Flow, grab your iPad, and point it like a giant slow RC car to the perfect location. As you can imagine, turning on the tow assist mode or driving it around the campsite will definitely reduce the trailer’s battery life for real world camping.

Pebble has a feature called Magic Hitch (it’s not really magic) that allows you to use an app to connect the Flow to your tow vehicle’s trailer hitch. Simply guide it using the on-screen controls, and when Flow gets close enough, hold down the button and the hitch will use the attached camera to find the exact spot to hook up. Another feature, called InstaCamp, allows you to park your trailer on uneven ground and then press a button to automatically level the camper.