As one of the world's leading providers of portable power station and home battery solutions, EcoFlow is hitting the road, promoting the benefits of solar power to prospective customers in a new IVECO Daily.

Given the breadth of the company's product range, this includes travelling to home shows, caravan and camping events, and trade shows along with partner exhibitions that can be hundreds of kilometres away.

How do you demonstrate home batteries and portable power solutions at these events? Well, there's no off-the-shelf display vehicle that suits, meaning EcoFlow needed a bespoke approach, leading it to engage prominent motorhome and caravan manufacturer, the JB Group.

According to JB Group, Group Marketing Manager, Wayne Coleman, EcoFlow had several specific requirements of their event demonstration truck.

"EcoFlow needed a vehicle its sales team could just jump into and was easy to drive with a similar cabin layout and driving experience to a car - they're not truck drivers," Wayne explained.

"They were also looking for something that was safe and easy to park. JB Group manufactures hundreds of motorhomes per year and many of these are built on the IVECO 50C cab chassis platform, so we recommended EcoFlow use the IVECO Daily."

Driving dynamics is one thing, but the vehicle had to be practical and fit-for-task as well. The Daily 50C's 4,495kg GVM provides ample carrying capacity for the batteries including for the company's larger 'OCEAN 2' 'PowerOcean' three-phase systems, while the Daily's full length C-section steel chassis makes it an easy platform on which the body can be built.

Wayne said that although a mobile display suite was very different to a motorhome, there were also some similarities.

"In building the EcoFlow body we applied many of the same principles that we would have when manufacturing a motorhome," he said.

"The body features Sandwich Panel construction which ensures high thermal and installation performance, there's also walk-through access from the cabin as you'd have in a motorhome and there's a generous standing height.

"The floor space has been deliberately kept open and uncluttered allowing show attendees to easily move around the area, but one side of the body still features benches, mini fridge, coffee machine and storage, allowing the sales team to cater to and host guests.

"On the other side are the battery systems which are lit by overhead channel lighting, we've also used LED strip lighting integrated into the wall to illustrate the flow of electricity between the batteries, various components and power sources.

"Other features include roof mounted solar and 5kW battery and inverter for when power is more difficult to access at events."

Ingress and egress to the truck is via fold-up, side and rear steps, with the side entry consisting of a large fold-up panel door that helps open the space; a glass guard rail prevents anyone accidentally falling off.

In the driver's seat

EcoFlow National Sales Manager, Leo Lee, said the Daily had quickly become a vital piece of equipment for the company.

"The Daily offers us great flexibility. Some events are indoors, others outdoors, some are huge exhibitions and others small. The truck adapts really well to each without us needing to rethink everything each time," Leo said.

"For us it's become a travelling showroom - it gives us a dedicated space where people can see and experience the products, and this makes a huge difference. People understand what we do much quicker when they can see everything working together."

Leo said he had become accustomed to driving the Daily very quickly.

"I was expecting it to feel much bigger than it does. Once you're behind the wheel it's surprisingly straight forward, and after a couple of journeys it just feels natural. That's important because we're often travelling into busy city centres or exhibition venues."