Every time we’ve come across a vehicle from German tiny EV builder Ari Motors, we can’t help but wonder if there’s a camper version. For a while, the answer was a straight “No,” but this month that all changes as the company releases what it’s calling the smallest motorhome in Germany. While the Elektro Frosch and Spacecamper Bike might argue that point, Ari’s 458 Pro Campervan is the type of tiny, adorable camping car you usually have to travel to Japan or South Korea to see, only now available in Europe. But there’s also a series of major drawbacks lurking within the impossibly cute little e-RV.
It appears we weren’t the only ones wondering about an Ari camper. In a video detailing the new 458 Pro camper debut, Ari notes that potential customers have frequently asked about camper versions of its panel vans. It adds that it does in fact offer camper van options for its 901 cargo van, selling it either as a basic DIY starter van or with a very simple camper kit preinstalled.
Ari Motors
With the 458 Pro Campervan, Ari expands its tiny RV family, adding to its deep lineup of modular body styles planted atop the 458 Pro truck platform. That lineup includes small refrigerated transporters, tipper trucks and delivery box trucks, the new motorhome variant debuting as an extension of the 458 Pro Alcove delivery truck.
The 458 Pro Campervan might be best thought of as a starter RV base vehicle, as Ari keeps focused on hooking up the basic essentials, leaving much of the conversion up to the customer. The company does say it can provide a more complete conversion, but its order sheet so far focuses more on the basic building blocks, leaving buyers to install or carry their own sleeping and cooking solutions.
“Ari Motors deliberately leaves the bed design, table and kitchenette to its customers,” the company says. “However, those who want to hit the road immediately can also get a fully equipped basic version straight from the factory.”
Ari Motors
What Ari offers as part of the basic package is a window and entry door that turn the commercial alcove body into a functional walk-in motorhome, a 280-Ah leisure battery and solar panel, fresh and waste water tanks, a 230-V shore power hookup and a motorhome box-top roof rack. The interior measures 73 in (185 cm) high.
We assume Ari will grow out that list of options if the Campervan gains any sales momentum. What’s sure to hold that momentum back, though, is the crippling performance limitations of the base truck, which is not actually a full-blown passenger vehicle at all. Instead, it’s an L7e lightweight electric four-wheeler with an output of just 15 kW (20 hp), the most allowed in Europe’s L7 classification.
Though the 458 Pro motorhome is extremely compact and lightweight, that limited amount of motive power equates to a paltry top speed just over 43 mph (70 km/h), which might work for a tiny delivery truck zipping through city centers but is exceedingly low for a vehicle category defined by long road trips. We can relate to Ari’s point about valuing the journey over the destination, but we fear that journey won’t be much fun, either … especially when there’s an 18-wheeler breathing furiously on your rear bumper, mile after mile.
Ari Motors
Another big disadvantage holding the 458 Pro Campervan back from practical tiny micro-camper status is its limited driving range. We are quite accustomed to low range figures when it comes to electric camper vans and motorhomes, but the 458 Pro’s longest estimated range of 143 miles (230 km) really rolls things back to yesteryear levels. And that’s with the upgraded 23.5-kWh LFP battery pack – the base 15-kWh battery tops out at 112 miles (180 km).
So the 458 Pro Campervan is ultimately more of a novelty or special use vehicle, good for short camping trips down slow, meandering country roads but downright incompatible with more ambitious RV trips. It remains an adorable, little rig, though, measuring in at just 150.4 in (382 cm) long – not quite all the way down to the 134-in (340-cm) size of a Japanese kei camper but extremely small by Western motorhome standards. And its combination of aluminum-edged white camper box and Huey green(ish) cab paintwork feels like this stylish, old Quantis Marq got revived and hit with a couple rounds of shrink ray fire.
Ari Motors says the most basic 458 Pro Campervan configuration starts at €25,530 (approx. US$29,475). We specced out our own with the standard 112-mile 15-kWh LFP battery, 280-Ah leisure battery, water storage, solar panel, 230-V shore power connection, and a few “mod cons” like cab air conditioning and power steering, and the base price came out to €32,525 ($37,550). Both prices are before VAT.
That’s a nice low price for an electric RV, but we’d rather spend more to get a vehicle that can move with highway traffic and travel well farther than 112 miles between charging/fueling stops. Still, we wouldn’t mind waking up to such an adorable tiny camper in the driveway.
Source: Ari Motors
