Many people have successfully camped and lived nomadically in their cars. It obviously has many disadvantages over larger vehicles like a van or RV, but it has certain advantages too. Compared to other vehicles commonly used, cars are generally more affordable, have better fuel efficiency, lower parking difficulty, easier and cheaper insurance, and may have a higher stealth factor. Cars are generally worse in most other ways due to their small available living space.
Note: if you are car-dwelling out of necessity, don't miss our Emergency quick start.
Browse Cars (5)
This is a list of Cars on this wiki.
Advantages
Compared to other vehicle options for nomadic living:
- Cars are more stealthy; if windows are adequately tinted or if you carry very minimal belongings they can be much less noticeable than larger vehicles.
- Cars are typically more economical to buy, insure, and drive. High fuel efficiency for lower travel cost.
- Low parking difficulty and vehicle clearance: Cars are shorter and can fit in places like parking garages and drive-throughs that might not be accessible to taller vehicles
Disadvantages
- Living space and storage space are limited.
- Conversion difficulty may be high due to limited space
- Low ceiling height - no standing in your car!
- Toilet options are extremely limited; in general, you'll depend on public toilets since it's difficult to fit or use any type of camping toilet or bucket toilet in a car.
- Power options are limited.
Power in a car
Obtaining sufficient electrical power can be extremely challenging for those who live or camp in cars. Power generation and storage components as found in campervans tend to be physically too large/heavy, overpowered, or otherwise impractical for car used. There are no solutions that are simultaneously easy, inexpensive, and size-appropriate for cars.
Since you may not be able to fit solar panels on the roof of your car or have space to store batteries and other electrical components, you'll mostly be limited to your car's onboard electrical system and any power banks or other portable power stations you have space for.
While your engine is running, your car generates power via the alternator. This can generate enough power for many uses, including charging batteries, but in general this power should only be used while driving. Idling your car just to use the alternator power is fine for emergency use, but it is inefficient and puts wear on your alternator and engine. Even on small cars the alternator has the capacity to make enough power to put typical solar setups to shame.
Whenever you can, use shore power to recharge your devices and power any cooking equipment or other electrical needs you have.
Cigarette lighter
You can access this power through the auxiliary power outlet (cigarette lighter port}. These outlets are typically fused at 10A, so it's safest to assume you will only be able to pull 120w total from them without popping a fuse. Pro tip: check the fuse sizes for your car and carry extras. You can run 12v (DC) devices that have a male cigarette connector from the outlet.
You can also run a small portable inverter off the port. However, inverters typically use 10-20% of the available power to run themselves, which will increase the load over what is indicated on your AC device's sticker. As such, a device that uses 100 watts may actually draw 120 watts. Small inverters are typically modified sine wave instead of pure sine wave, which isn't appropriate for all types of loads. Small pure sine wave inverters do exist. Inverters with cords that plug into the port put less mechanical strain on the port than units that plug directly in. If you own an all-in-one plugin you may want to use an extension/splitter to minimize stress on the port. If the port is your only source of power you want to treat it gently!
USB ports
Newer vehicles may also have USB ports for charging small devices like phones and tablets.
Starter battery connection
Larger inverter loads can be run if one bypasses the cigarette lighter and connects to the battery directly with alligator clips or by adding wiring. Many inverters in the 300w+ range come with alligator clips to connect directly to the starter battery. Their usefulness is somewhat limited because you can only use them with the hood up and car idling. Running wire (with appropriate fuse) from the engine compartment to the passenger compartment will allow you to run larger loads while driving. Example: cooking with excess power while on a road trip or long commute.
Electric and hybrid vehicles
If you have an EV or fuel/battery hybrid, the huge onboard power storage means you'll generally have enough power for leisure needs.
Solar power in cars
While there's limited room for solar panel installation, solar power in cars can be quite useful. If you can't or don't want to mount solar panels on your car's roof, portable solar panels may be a good fit for your needs.
Shore power
Shore power refers to plugging in to the electrical grid. Unless you have a permanent electrical system in your car, this generally will just mean running an outdoor-rated extension cord from an outdoor electrical outlet at a campground, friend's house, or other available location.
Channels featuring Cars
These channels may have more information about Cars:
- Bren P Grace
- Morts
- Mother NATEur
- Mountain Springs Adventures
- Nikki Delventhal
- Simple Enough
- Wanderful Wheels
[ There is some duplicate info on this page at the moment ... cleaning it up soon! ]
starter battery
Larger inverter loads can be run if one bypasses the cigarette lighter and connects to the battery directly with alligator clips or by adding wiring.
Many inverters in the 300w+ range come with alligator clips to connect directly to the starter battery. Example: Aims Aims 300w PSW and Bestek 500 MSW models. Their usefulness is somewhat limited because you can only use them with the hood up and car idling.
Running wire (with appropriate fuse) from the engine compartment to the passenger compartment will allow you to run larger loads while driving. Example: cooking with excess power while on a road trip or long commute.
solar power
Solar power has substantial benefits including power when the vehicle is off, silence, and the ability to charge starter battery. However, it takes physical space that is not always available in cars. The panels themselves are rather large and require wiring to connect them wherever the power is to be routed.
See: Solar power for cars
Power storage
Storing excess power may be the most challenging aspect; the starter battery holds power but that should be reserved for starting the vehicle.
Portable power stations
Portable power stations are a simple solution to power storage in cars. They can be charged from the auxiliary power outlet or from solar panels], or from wall power while you are at work or in a place where outlet power is available. It may be counterintuitive, but depending on the device's specifications it may actually charge faster using a small inverter to run the wall charger than using the cigarette outlet cord. (It's less efficient to go 12vdc - 120vac - 12vdc but the alternator's huge power output makes the inefficiency a non-issue.)
USB power banks
People with limited power needs (charge phone, run personal fan) may do fine with a USB power brank. Charge from wall power when available or from USB adapter while the car is running. Some units also have handwarmer functions which may be useful in cold weather.
Power ratings can be a bit confusing; the 20,000mAh unit above is more plainly understood as 20A @ 5v (USB voltage is 5v). While it may look like a marketing ploy, it is also a historical artifact from when lithium batteries were quite small and 150mAh was easier to parse than something like 0.0150Ah.
Jump packs
Jump packs are USB power packs on steroids. They tend to have larger internal capacity and also the ability to produce 12v to help start dead car batteries. The unit shown here also has a ~60w inverter built in for light loads.
Auxiliary batteries
Aux battery setups are typically used in larger power configurations like you might find in campervans.
Tables
Work surfaces in cars are limited. A Steering wheel tray table may be a useful addition so you can eat or work while parked and sitting in the driver seat.
Resources
Resources
| Resource | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Car Camping | Public Facebook group with 338k members as of July 2024. | |
| Car Camping Group | Public Facebook group with 4k members as of August 2024. | |
| Prius Dwellers | Subreddit with 17k readers | |
| Cars forum | A sub-forum of VanLivingForum.com | |
| Search forums and groups | Search van life discussion groups for "cars" | |
| Search related sites | Search van life sites for "cars" | |
| Search NomadLife.wiki | Search other pages on this wiki for "cars" |
Some or all of the content on this page was originally sourced from this page on RVWiki