1. What is a portable power station?

A Power Station is a compact, portable and rechargeable power generator powered by lithium batteries. It can be charged via electrical outlet or solar panels and offers 220AC outputs, 12V DC and USB outputs to power any kind of electrical apparatus.

Power Stations are thus technological boxes designed as all-in-one solutions to meet the energy needs of those who need a powerful, yet portable and easy to understand, install and use electrical system.

Because of portability and ease of use, they are popular with fans of camping, barbecues, or beach parties.

Recently, however, with the growing interest in camper vans and do-it-yourself van conversions., these battery-generators are getting closer and closer to the RV world as well.

Either as energy back-ups or in some cases as an actual electrical system.

In the next section we look together at when and how much sense it makes to buy a power station for your RV.

If, on the other hand, you do not have an RV, and you are only here for the detailed comparison of themost popular Power Station models on the market, you can skip directly toparagraph 4.

2. When does a Portable Power Station in a Motorhome make Sense?

Below we look together at the reasons why it would make sense and you might be interested in buying a portable power station for your RV.

• Creating an Easy Electrical System: If you’re converting a van DIY and have no idea where to start getting your hands on electricity, you have three options: hire an expert (expensive), learn how to build a DIY Electrical System(time-consuming), or buy a power station (ready to use!).

(In the next section, we compare power stations in detail with an electrical system on the basis of both power output and economic cost.

• Creating an Electrical Installation for a Removable Conversion: if you’re converting an RV, van or minivan with a temporary, removable outfitting, Power Stations are a great option for getting a decent level of comfort without having to wire anything permanent to your vehicle

• Increasing the range of the Current System: Service batteries are the heart of every RV. But what happens in case we want to increase the capacity? Often, adding service batteries is not as easy as it sounds: there is a lack of space in the locker, the rest of the system is undersized, and we would need to change various electrical components. Even more complicated is to change an AGM system for a lithium system (all charging systems would have to be changed). In such cases, adding an external PS may be the easiest, most convenient, and most economical solution to meet our new electrical needs

• Emergency Power Backup: Are you planning long on-the-road trips or planning to visit remote areas? Is electricity essential for you to work and travel? Since you never know when bad luck will strike (unlike luck which is blind, bad luck can see just fine!), a Power Station could be that emergency plan B that saves you in difficult conditions. If you have extra space in your RV to devote to it, for adventure travel it can always be an extra security.

• To Best Enjoy Stopovers and Camping in Nature: Leave the van in the sun (to charge service batteries), set up in the shade of a tree, small table, chairs, nature, barbecue and cold beer! The best part of vanlife for me is all here! In such cases, a power station can come in very handy for feeding extra comforts: the pc for remote work, the cell phone, a fan on hot summer days, a speaker for music…possibly as well as a cooler to keep the beers even more ice cold and within reach ;D In camping and conviviality situations certainly is where the benefits of portable Power Stations are most enjoyed.

Now that we have seen the reasons why it might be interesting to consider the option of a Power Station for your RV, you will surely be interested in understanding what are the best options on the market.

Before jumping in, however, I offer a little food for thought in case you are converting a van and are undecided whether to create a complete electrical system or install a power station.

If this is not the case for you, skip ahead to the Best Power Stations on the Market in 2023).

3. Portable Power Station vs Camper Electrical System: Advantages and Disadvantages

Below, find the advantages and disadvantages of using a Power Station to power a camper’s utilities, compared to a “fixed” electrical system.

CHOOSE A POWER STATION TO CREATE AN ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

4. Best Choices on the Market: Bluetti, Ecoflow and Others

Below I briefly show you which pricipal companies are currently producing Power Stations for camping and RVs.

Bluetti and Ecoflow of course are the undisputed leaders in the field, while I wanted to include Jackery and Anker as emerging alternatives potentially worth considering.

MAJOR MANUFACTURERS OF PORTABLE POWER STATIONS

ECOFLOW

Chinese/American company founded by a group of engineers, a leader inportable power and renewable energy since 2017.

Ecoflow Power Stations are quality products whose major selling points arereliability and ultra-rapid charging (although competitors are getting quite close).

Definitely one of the companies to keep an eye on and one that offers really interesting quality/price products.

ANKER

Anker is a Chinese company that you may have already heard of when talking about quality powerbanks or batteries for laptops/smartphones.

Well, last year Anker decided to go bigger and launched its first portable Power Station-a good product that has nothing to envy from more emblazoned brands such as Ecoflow, Bluetti or Jackery.

5. Portable Power Stations: Models on the Market

Now that we have seen the major manufacturers of Power Stations, it is finally time to see what products they offer and which ones are best suited to RV living.

To simplify your search (seriously, the world of power stations is a jungle!), I wanted to collect all major models from each manufacturer in convenient tables.

To help you choose, I have removed all the “outline” of additional information and left only the specifications that really matter and should guide your choice: battery capacity, inverter power, DC output power, and Base Price.

Before looking at the models, I will briefly clarify what is meant by each of these specifications.

BATTERY CAPACITY

Battery capacity is essentially the amount of energy you can stow in a power station-it goes without saying that it is the ultimate and fundamental reason why you might decide to purchase such an acessory.

The greater the capacity, the more autonomy you will have.

Normally power station manufacturers report capacity in watt-hours. In the tables below, I have translated this capacity to you in Amper-hours (the same unit used to measure the capacity of RV batteries-it is obtained by dividing watt-hours by the voltage of 12.8V).

This way, you can easily compare the capacity of the Power Station with that of a regular lithium battery and better evaluate its price.

If you find it too complicated, don’t worry I will help you in the next few paragraphs to get clarity on the numbers.

For now, I’ll leave a table here to give you a sense of what you can do with different stowage capacities:

WHAT CAN POWER A POWER STATION BATTERY AND FOR HOW MUCH?

INVERTER POWER

The inverter is an apparatus already inside the Power Stations that converts 12V battery current into 110-220V alternating current usable by your equipment (TV, PC, Phon, Kettle etc.).

The more powerful the inverter, the more devices at the same time you will be able to power. Below, I leave you a table summarizing the average consumption in watts of various electrical equipment.

HOW MUCH DO HOME APPLIANCES CONSUME ON AVERAGE?

Suppose you want to power a TV set and charge your PC at the same time: in this case the powers add up (150W TV set + 120W charger = 270Watts) and means that to do this you will need a portable power station that supports at least 270W of power.

POWER OUTPUTS 12DC

If you are considering using a portable power station as part of your RV’s electrical system, you probably already know that many “RV” equipment runs on 12V direct current.

These include, to give examples, verie LED lights, ceiling fans, water pump, compressor refrigerators, 12V air conditioners etc.

If you are planning to power such devices, you need to make sure that the Power Station has normal DC outputs (not just USB-A or USB-C) and enough power to power them.

BASIC PRICE

A good comparison obviously cannot be made without price.

To help you choose, I have gathered all the base list prices of all the Power Stations currently on the market (2023) in the tables below.

Of course, depending on the period, you may come across offers whereby one Power Station may become more attractive than others.

Now that I have explained the main features to consider when choosing a Portable Power Station, let’s look together at all the models on the market offered by Bluetti, Ecoflow, Jackery, and Anker.

If you are interested in seeing the full product description, simply
click on the table to go directly to the manufacturer’s website.

To make the comparison with an RV/van’s electrical system easier, I have translated your battery capacity from Wh to Ah (same unit of measurement by which RV battery capacity is normally measured).

To find the Wh, just multiply by 12.8V.

Note 1: Jackery and Anker are not expandable with extra batteries.

Note 2: Anker offers a 5-year warranty, versus an average of 2 years from other manufacturers.

6. Bluetti vs Ecoflow: Detailed Comparison

Now that we have seen the power station models on the market, it is time to compare them and draw conclusions.

In order, we will look in more detail at Portable Power Stations for camping and small projects (<100ah), for medium (100-300ah) and large (250ah+) projects.

POWER STATION FOR SMALL PROJECTS

In this category, let’s together try to figure out which Power Station is “just right” for casual use, whether an outdoor barbeque, charging phones or computers, a beach party, or occasionally some RV accessories.

Speaking of small projects, we can see that all manufacturers (Bluetti, Ecoflow, Jackery, and Anker) have a proposal suitable for this range of use.

ENTRY-LEVEL POWER STATION (20Ah)

Starting from the low end (20Ah capacity), we see that the Bluetti EB3A is sold at the same price as the Ecoflow River 2 and Anker 521. They have the same capacity, same price, however, the PS Bluetti EB3A has twice as many inverters as its competitors and 12V DC outputs as well.

Therefore, in this category there is no match and the Bluetti EB3A wins the title of best entry-level power station.

POWER STATION BASE (up to 100Ah)

In the range between 30 and 100ah is where we find the largest number of portable power stations, with prices ranging from 600Euro up to 1500Euro.

In this category, of more or less similar PSs, the only one that seems to stand outa good step above the others is the Ecoflow Power Delta Mini, which reaches with its inverter a power of as much as 1400Watts (unbelievable for such a small PS!). For comparison, in this category the others barely reach 1000W.

The only negative note, is that the Mini has only 5A output at 12V (compared to the 20A of the Bluetti EB70 which costs even less).

Unless you want to use it to power 12V equipment in your RV, the Mini’s great inverter power anyway makes it the best in this category.

POWER STATION FOR MEDIUM-SIZED PROJECTS

100-300Ah

Power Stations within this category are beginning to be important and more weighty pieces of equipment, useful both as back-up solutions (in RVs for example!) and potentially to power low-consumption electrical systems.

Going up in range, as you may have noticed in the tables above (on each manufacturer’s models), the choice narrows.

In this category, the model that more than the others Easily jumps out at you for its excellent quality/price is the
BluettiAC200Max
: decent 160ah battery, excellent invert power (2200Watts), an incredible 12V output of a whopping 40Amps (enough to power any utility in an average RV), and a price that still manages to stay well under 2000Euro.

Jackery does not produce medium to large power stations, Anker is still too far out of price while Ecoflow really does not have a product that fits well in this category.

POWER STATION FOR LARGE PROJECTS

300+Ah

And here we come to the Power Stations for large projects. Here we are talking about real electrical equipment, relatively heavy (over 50kg) and therefore not so “portable” to move around every day.

If you are considering using Power Stations to create a complex electrical system in a van/camper, and with a large range (above 300Ah), you need to know two things.

First, the choice here is Bluetti or Ecoflow. There are no other alternatives at the moment.

Second, be prepared to spend!

Comparing the Ecoflow DELTA Max with theBluetti AC300+B300, we see that both power stations are modular and expandable.

Their capacity is practically the same (254Ah). The Bluetti offers a 3000W inverter compared to the Ecoflow’s 2500W, and in addition offers 50A of 12V outputs (while the Ecoflow none).

If you have to power 12V apparatus (e.g., in an RV or boat), the choice is pretty much a no-brainer (Bluetti).

If, on the contrary, you are looking for a Power Station to power only 110/220V consumers, the Ecoflow is probably the best choice given its very competitive price (base price 2300Euro vs. 4000).

Considering a system greater than 300Ah, the issue changes.

In this case, the prices of Power Station Bluetti/Ecoflow + an expansion battery of each are comparable(a little over 6000Euro).

However, it should be noted that with the Bluetti AC300+2xB300 combination, it comes to an agglomerated capacity of 500Ah, while Ecoflow stops at 400ah for the same price.

In addition, the Bluetti AC300+B300 comes to provide 40A of DC at 12V (while the Delta only offers USB outputs), and a higher power inverter (3000vs2500).

In short, the Ecoflow option in this case turns out to be dominated in almost all respects by the Bluetti apparatus, which wins another victory.

7. Takeaways and Conclusion

TAKEAWAYS: THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT POWER STATIONS FOR RV

Below you will find the main Takeaways from our market research:

• Bluetti and Ecoflow at the moment are still the market leaders and dominate the other alternatives

• The strong support from social and influencers for Bluetti is well-founded, in fact its products have won in 3 out of 4 categories.

• Bluetti is the only portable power station manufacturer to consider if you are serious about powering a 12V system in an RV.

• Still speaking of RVs, portable Power Stations are a great product to use as a back-up, extend your energy range, and to better enjoy outdoor life

• In contrast, for the same power, a Power Station can cost more than twice as much as a fixed RV electrical system

THE BEST PORTABLE POWER STATIONS FOR CAMPERS – SUMMARY

The Best Portable Power Station for charging cell phones, PCs and powering small appliances up to 600W is theBluetti EB3A.

The Best Portable Power Station for barbecues, outdoor parties, charging cell phones, PCs, and powering home appliances up to 1400W is the Ecoflow Delta Mini.

The Best Power Station to keep in your RV as an energy back-up or to increase the range of your existing system is theBluetti A200 Max.

The most powerful expandable power station that could be used to power an entire RV with both AC and DC consumers is the Bluetti AC300+2xB300 (Power Station + two batteries).

Note: depending on the period, you may find offers/prices that make other options more attractive. Personally, I recommend that you always refer to the manufacturers’ sites for optimal evaluation:Bluetti e Ecoflow.

CONCLUSION