How much power does your campervan actually need?
Use our free campervan electrical calculator to estimate your daily energy use, battery capacity, solar requirements and inverter size based on how you actually travel.
Free • ~2 minutes • No electrical knowledge needed
Stop buying components before you know what you need.
Planning a campervan electrical system can get confusing fast. Battery size, solar capacity and inverter requirements depend on more than the appliances you own. Your travel season, sunlight conditions, driving habits, access to shore power and how long you want to stay off-grid all change the answer.
WakeVan Power Check turns those choices into a simple preliminary power estimate without requiring electrical knowledge.
YOUR TRAVEL STYLE
Weekend trips and full-time off-grid travel have very different power needs.
YOUR APPLIANCES
See which devices have the biggest impact on your estimated consumption.
YOUR POWER PROFILE
Get a simple starting point before you begin choosing expensive components.
Campervan power questions
How do I calculate how much power my campervan needs?
Start with your estimated daily energy consumption: which appliances you run and roughly how long each one runs per day. Then consider how long you want to stay off-grid, how you recharge (solar, driving, shore power), the sunlight conditions where you travel and how often you actually move the van. The free WakeVan Power Check turns those choices into a preliminary daily energy, battery, solar and inverter estimate.
What size battery do I need for a campervan?
There is no single correct answer. Battery capacity depends on your estimated daily consumption, how many days of autonomy you want without shore power, how often you recharge while driving or from solar, and how much of the battery capacity is actually usable. Two vans with the same appliances can need very different batteries if one is parked for a week and the other drives daily.
How much solar do I need for my campervan?
Solar requirements follow your daily energy use and how much sunlight you realistically get. Season, latitude, cloud cover, shading, panel angle and temperature all change real-world output, and other charging sources such as driving or shore power reduce how much solar has to cover. A campervan solar calculator gives you a planning range rather than one fixed number.
What size inverter do I need for my campervan?
Inverter size is driven mainly by the maximum power of the AC appliances that could run at the same time, not by your daily consumption. A van with a kettle, an induction hob or a hair dryer needs a much larger inverter class than one running only a laptop and phone chargers.
Can I run an induction hob in a campervan?
In many systems, yes – but induction cooking is one of the heaviest loads in a van. It significantly increases peak inverter demand and can add meaningfully to daily energy consumption, which usually means a larger battery bank too. You can include induction cooking in the WakeVan Power Check and see how it changes your preliminary estimate.
Do campervan power needs change in winter?
Considerably. Shorter days and lower sun angles reduce solar production, while heating-related electrical loads such as heater fans, pumps and lights run longer. The same van can be comfortable in July and short of energy in January.
Can I use WakeVan Power Check for an RV or conversion van?
Yes. WakeVan Power Check is based primarily on how you use energy and travel rather than a specific vehicle model. It can provide a preliminary estimate for campervans, camper vans, conversion vans, RVs and similar off-grid vehicles.