By Mike Ward
Broadmoor RV & Truck Center 9145 St. Thomas Dr. Pasco, WA 888-343-8800 broadmoor-rv.com Nelson’s RV’s 4911 Chinden Blvd. Boise, ID 208-322-4121 nelsonsrvs.com RV’s Northwest 18919 E. Broadway Spokane Valley, WA 509-891-5545 rvsnorthwest.com Sumner RV Center 4309 E. Valley Hwy. Sumner, WA 888-863-5644 sumnerrv.com Thompson RV 1201 Southgate Pendleton, OR 800-459-4836 thompsonrvinc.com Wilder RV 1536 E. Front St. Port Angeles, WA 360-457-7715 wilderauto.com/rv www.truenorth.me
It was great,” said Brad Herzog, summing up a 56-day summer trip with his wife, Amy, and two
young sons in Winnebago’s first—
and so far only—hybrid motorhome.
We caught up with Brad by
phone in Duluth, Minnesota, where
the family was winding up its trip
through the Midwest and Southeast
before turning in the motorhome
and flying home to Pacific Grove,
California. The family had a busy
summer. They went parasailing in
Key West, toured the Smithsonian in
Washington, visited the Kennedy
Space Center on the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, took in a
minor league baseball game on the Fourth of July,
and drove the length of the 444-mile Natchez
Trace Parkway through Tennessee, Alabama and
Mississippi.
Herzog has the ideal summer job. While serving as spokesperson for the Recreation Vehicle
Industry Association, he vacations in a
motorhome with his family, blogs about his travels at the Go RVing website, and promotes RVing
through interviews with the media.
The Herzogs have been exploring the U.S. in
an RV every summer since 1996. As newlyweds,
they traveled across the country for a year, and he
wrote a book about it. Since then, they’ve made
summer sightseeing in an RV a family tradition.
What made this year’s vacation different was
the vehicle. Winnebago Industries loaned them a
hybrid version of its Adventurer motorhome.
The hybrid is a concept vehicle the company is
testing before deciding whether to put it into
production. It is a 35-foot Class A triple slide
model equipped with lots of luxury features.
Herzog had nothing but positive things to say
about the hybrid experience.
First, he said, the motorhome was the subject
of amazing curiosity. With the word “hybrid”
prominently displayed on the side of the vehicle,
the Adventurer attracted attention and lots of
questions from RVers at RV parks, motorists at
gas stations, and even attendants at tollbooths.
Getting the media’s attention was no problem. Herzog was on TV in 20 of the 21 cities they
visited.
So if curiosity is any guide, Herzog said, there
is a big market waiting for a hybrid RV.
The Adventurer is powered by a Freightliner
ecoFRED chassis that couples a diesel engine
with an electric motor/generator and lithium-ion
batteries. The batteries are constantly charged by
the diesel engine and also capture and store ener-
“
Brad and Amy Herzog and sons, Jesse and Luke, tested a hybrid RV.
gy through the braking system. A controller
selects the most efficient mode of operation—
diesel, electric or both—depending on operating
conditions and driver demand.
Herzog said the system was so seamless that
he never knew what kind of power was on. The
only clue was that when it was quieter he
assumed that electric power was doing the work.
Winnebago has estimated that the hybrid version of the Adventurer should get about 13 miles
per gallon, compared with 8 to 10 miles per gallon for the non-hybrid version. Herzog said that
seems about right, but he didn’t measure his gas
mileage.
All he knows, he said, is that he traveled from
just outside Washington D.C. to Dayton, Ohio,
on three quarters of an 80-gallon tank of gas. And,
he said, he spent much less money on fuel this
summer than last. Part of that may have been that
fuel prices were lower this year, and also that
diesel engines are more economical than gas
engines, but hybrid technology also played a part.
He said he is persuaded that hybrid technology “not only protects the planet, but also protects my wallet.”
Still, there are no plans to put the Adventurer
hybrid into production anytime soon. It is not part
of Winnebago’s 2010 model lineup. So far the only
hybrid vehicle that Winnebago has built is the one
it loaned the Herzog family for its summer tour.
You can read about the Herzog family’s trip at
gorving.com. Herzog has written several travel
memoirs and is also the author of alphabet picture books for children. You can learn more
about him and his work at bradherzog.com. ;
Write to Mike Ward, editor at RV Life mag
azine, 18717 76th Avenue West, Suite B, Lynnwood,
WA 98037 or e-mail editor@rvlife.com. Find First
Glance online at rvlife.com.
