High-tech camper company Pebble is looking to be number one for your number two. The Pebble Flow camper is filled with innovative ideas, including a dual-motor system that helps it extend your EV’s range and actually lets you move it around by itself to hitch up.
But the Pebble Auto Dump system might be the best feature of all, especially for anyone squeamish about the worst part of RVing. No, not the rain or the flies — we’re talking about, ahem, emptying your tanks.
Pebble Auto Dump Is Your Solution to the Cousin Eddie Experience
Pebble’s promo video for Auto Dump is a bit of an exaggeration, but it shows how miserable dealing with camping’s biological hazards can be. Drag out that long corrugated hose, set up the (probably broken) stand, and insert it in the horrific pipe sticking out of the ground. Then reverse at the end of your stay. You know the drill, and you know that it can be really nasty.
The Pebble Auto Dump system promises to make emptying your RV waste tanks as easy as using any other app. It’s not the first app-controlled crapper (yes, you can get app-operated bidets for your home), but it’s the first system like this we’ve ever seen in an RV.
We didn’t just slap a button on the old system; we rebuilt the entire experience. Auto Dump makes the worst part of RVing something you barely even think about. It’s one of those upgrades that makes you wonder why it wasn’t always this simple.
— Stefan Solyom, Chief Technology Officer at Pebble
It doesn’t change the basics, but it does make them easier. The hose is connected and stored underneath the Flow. Just pull it out when it’s time to connect.
My wife said this might mean I’m not welcome on camping trips anymore. “The girlies will be camping now; this is how gender equality really happens. We just have you guys around for the messy bits.”
Retractable Hose & A Macerated Smoothie
The retractable sewer hose is connected with gravity instead of a screw thread. But it has a stepped end to fit various-sized pipes and grippy ridges to help keep it in place.
Plug the hose in the pipe, open the app — maybe wash your hands first — and then hit “Dump” on the app.
Pebble Auto Dump automatically opens the valves to drain the tanks, so you don’t need to worry about pulling the wrong lever or getting the wrong order. There’s even a rinse cycle that uses your gray water to clean the inside of the black tank and the hose.
Plus, instead of relying on gravity to haul your waste downhill, there’s a pump that makes sure it ends up in the ground instead of chilling in the pipe. This is possible because the Flow comes with a macerating toilet; it shreds your poos (and your paper) so there are fewer solids going through the pipe.
Pebble expanded the black water tank to go with the Auto Dump feature. It will now hold 18 gallons, 38% more than the prototypes it’s shown, meaning longer stays before you need to use the feature.
Pebble Flow Tries to Fix All the Parts of Camping That Suck
We’ve covered the Pebble Flow in full already, but this feature is new. It was announced along with the first customer deliveries of the Flow. The electric camper’s main revolutionary feature is its 45kWh lithium-iron-phosphate battery.
This is more than a lot of electric cars offer, and it is enough to power the camper for days, if not weeks (Pebble says 7 days) off-grid — especially when combined with the 1.1kW solar array.
But you can use the battery to power the Magic Hitch system. The semi-automated system hooks up with the push of a button. Or use the remote control on the dual motor system to park it in a tight spot. The crowd of lookie-loos at the RV park won’t know what to think when you unhook and back your trailer in with your phone.
Lastly, the motors can help propel the trailer on the road. Reducing the range loss for your electric tow rig and helping on hill climbs. It can even give regenerative braking to make the downhill experience better.
The Flow Founders Edition, which includes the Easy Tow system, Magic Hitch, Pebble Auto Dump, and more, starts from $175,000. The dual-motor Magic Pack is $135,500, and the Standard (set to arrive next year) is $109,500.
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