rig

Bob Anderson — physician, pilot, executive — is nothing if not a perfectionist.

He’s owned his fair share of recreational vehicles and disliked each of them uniquely. There was the Earth Roamer (anemic axles, in his opinion), the $350,000 Newmar land yacht (complex emissions technology) and a 25-foot Airstream trailer (lots of propane). Yet Anderson, 81, keeps buying camping rigs. And he’s hoping the next one will be his last.

This fall, he’ll take delivery of a Lightship AE.1 Cosmos, an RV as similar to an Airstream as a Tesla Roadster is to a Pontiac Firebird.

What separates the Lightship from the rest of Anderson’s letdowns is its propulsion system and design: The rig has two electric motors, so it can drive itself while hitched to the vehicle towing it, and the entire top half tucks down for better aerodynamics while underway. With these two hacks, the vehicle towing the Lightship will feel virtually no weight most of the time. On the interstate, Anderson’s hybrid pickup truck will theoretically get its standard 27 miles per gallon, rather than the 12.5 miles it manages with the Airstream behind it.

“It’s going to change everything in the RV world,” Anderson says.

This year may well be an inflection point for the RV industry, when serious alternatives are emerging to the gas-guzzling rigs chugging between national parks.

In addition to the Lightship, the Pebble Flow — another towable camper with an electric drivetrain — will hit the road. Meanwhile, a host of electric vans will finally be stamped out in high volumes, most notably Volkswagen’s ID. Buzz , the latest iteration of the brand’s storied bus. Even incumbent Thor Inc., which is to RVs what Apple is to smartphones, is putting the final touches on its first hybrid rig.

“It’s certainly a huge milestone,” says McKay Featherstone, head of global innovation at Thor Inc. “People can finally go and buy these things and experience this technology.”

Last year, Americans bought 637,000 RVs, many of which burned a gallon of gas every six to 15 miles traveled. These rigs will stay on the road for about 200,000 miles, belching copious amounts of carbon dioxide.

Electric RVs promise to make the summer road trip vastly cleaner, more convenient and quiet.

Among other things, electric models will help the RV industry shake off what the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association refers to as a “Covid hangover.” The group is forecasting a slight increase in total US sales this year, in part because of the growing number of electric options.

“The vibes, if you will, are good,” says spokeswoman Monika Geraci. “And there does seem to be an appetite there.”

In a Venn diagram of folks who love camping and folks who are climate-concerned, there’s quite a bit of overlap. That may partially explain why, of the roughly 58 million American households that go camping every year, only 12 million of them own an RV.

Yet it’s not like RV drivers don’t care about the climate. “Obviously, these people love the outdoors,” explains Featherstone at Thor, “and that does translate into people who want a lighter footprint.”

In fact, some of the same people who long avoided camping rigs and their sizable clouds of emissions are now at the helm of RV startups. These folks could never find a camper green enough for their liking, so they set out to make one.

Lightship was launched by two Tesla alumni after a disappointing RV journey. Co-founder Toby Kraus says the company is getting plenty of interest from RV newbies who strive to keep a low carbon footprint, but the company has been surprised at the number of orders from everyday drivers and who don’t care about the climate benefits.

Anderson is one of the latter: He pays little mind to his personal carbon footprint. What thrills him is the idea of spending less money on gas and having an RV that doesn’t have to churn a combustion engine to run the air conditioning and refrigerator.

In that regard, Lightspeed is borrowing a page from the Tesla playbook.

“The reason Tesla was successful is not because it was sustainable,” Kraus explains. “It’s because the product was awesome. It was clean tech by Trojan Horse.”

With the glow of ambient light tucked behind ceiling fabric, the interior of the Lightship Ae.1 feels like the first-class cabin of a commercial jet. An induction cooktop is built into the counter, a heat pump quietly cycles air and everything on the rig is controlled by an app. Lightship plans to eventually sell smaller, more affordable models, but its launch vehicle costs a heady $250,000.

The Pebble Flow parks a little further down market with its founders edition priced at $175,000. Co-founder Bingrui Yang spent much of his career working at Apple on the iPhone and, aesthetically, the rig travels the same lane. With a bed that folds up against the wall and Starlink internet service, the interior is geared for Zoom calls as much as napping in nature, reflecting the rise of remote work.

“This is the right time for this product,” Yang says.

The market is also shifting in ways that may further favor electric models. Since 2021, the average age of US RV customers has dropped from 53 to 49, while the share of the market making more than $100,000 a year climbed from 29% to 33%.

“It’s not your grandma and grandpa anymore,” Geraci says. “It’s a different consumer, and they’re looking for more technology.”

While expensive, the new electric towables change the standard RV economics; because they can propel themselves much of the time, they can be towed with less horsepower and pair nicely with electric vehicles, machines for which towing has been Kryptonite due to range issues.

There are also alternatives on the horizon to the hulking, three-bedroom motor coach. These vehicles make up one out of every 10 RVs sold, yet they get some of the worst gas mileage of any non-commercial vehicle, hoovering up a gallon of gas every six or seven miles.

Thor is putting the finishing touches on a hybrid vehicle — dubbed simply “Test Vehicle” — that doesn’t look markedly different from its gas-burning products. But refinements in design make it about 20% more aerodynamic. The 210 kilowatt-hours of battery power under the hood along with a gas generator for charging give it somewhere around 500 miles of range.

On long trips, it will burn roughly half as much fuel as a similar-sized internal combustion rig and offer even better range on short jaunts. Thor will start taking orders in the fall and producing the vehicles by year-end.

Still, there’s a huge chunk of the camper market for whom even a towable is too much. Last year, Americans bought 8,300 camper vans as well as an untold number converted minivans and commercial vans to handle s’mores and sleeping duty.

These folks also have a bevy of new choices. In the first half of the year, Americans bought 2,500 ID.Buzzes. Many of those rigs will be pressed into minimalist camping service, and aftermarket shops are helping kit them out.

That includes Peace Vans in Seattle, which counts both Macklemore and Pearl Jam drummer Matt Cameron as clients. For the Buzz, the company built three different camping configurations. Owner Harley Stitner expects to complete about 1,000 retrofits in the next few years.

Sam Shapiro launched Grounded RVs after six months on the road in 2020 en route to a job at SpaceX. “Before that, I don’t think I’d ever even been in an RV,” he says. “There’s this irony of having this experience to embrace nature, yet you’re sitting there at a campground running a combustion engine, creating exhaust, making noise.”

At its factory in Detroit, Grounded is essentially taking the chassis of an electric General Motors BrightDrop van, topping it with the shell of a Class B motorhome and adding its own solar array and battery management software. The rigs can travel about 300 miles on a charge. As with other electric campers, buyers will pay a premium: $195,000, nearly double what a gas-burning rig of the same size runs.

Last year, Grounded shipped 15 of its machines; this year, it’s aiming for 50. Roughly half of Grounded customers are RV rookies.

“They’ve been waiting for something like this to come along,” Shapiro says. “So many of our customers have said they never want to own a gas-powered vehicle again.”

Stock writes for Bloomberg.

SACRAMENTO — Moments after California lawmakers passed a plan designed to undercut attempts by the president and fellow Republicans to keep control of Congress, Gov. Gavin Newsom said the state’s proposed partisan redistricting that favors Democrats is a necessary counterweight to President Trump’s threat to American democracy.

Trump’s assault on vote by mail and decision to send the military into U.S. cities are evidence of his authoritarian policies, and California must do its part to keep him in check, Newsom said.

By deploying federal immigration agents in roving street raids and activating thousands of members of the National Guard in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., Newsom said, Trump is amassing “a private army for Donald Trump.”

“He’s trying to rig the election, he’s trying to set up the conditions where he can claim that the elections were not won fair and square,” Newsom said. “Open your eyes to what is going on in the United States of America in 2025.”

The argument is a preview of the messaging for the ballot measure campaign that Newsom and his Democratic Party allies will be running over the next 74 days.

On Thursday, California lawmakers signed off on a Nov. 4 special election that will put partisan redistricting in front of California voters.

The ballot measure, called Proposition 50, will ask voters to discard the congressional boundaries drawn by the state’s independent redistricting commission in 2021 in favor of partisan districts that could boot as many as five California Republicans out of Congress.

“When all things are equal, and we’re all playing by the same set of rules,” Newsom said, “there’s no question that the Republican Party will be the minority party in the House of Representatives next year.”

California is “responding to what occurred in Texas, we’re neutralizing what occurred, and we’re giving the American people a fair chance,” Newsom said.

National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina accused Newsom of trying to “rig” the system to advance his own political career.

“Instead of fixing the homelessness, crime, drug, and cost crises crushing the Golden State, Gavin Newsom is tearing up California’s Constitution to advance his presidential ambitions,” Hudson said in a statement.

California’s new lines would neutralize efforts in Texas to redraw their congressional district maps to help elect five more GOP candidates in 2026. The Texas Legislature is expected to approve new district lines this week.

The other option, Newsom said, is for California and Democrats to “roll over and do nothing.”

“I think people all across the country are going to campaign here in California for this,” Newsom said. “They recognize what’s at stake. It’s not just about the state of California. It’s about the United States of America. It’s about rigging the election. It’s about completely gutting the rules.”

Times staff writer Seema Mehta contributed to this report.

In a brazen move, Republicans in Texas have set out to redraw the state’s congressional map — an effort to boost President Trump and the GOP in the 2026 midterm elections.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has threatened to respond in kind, gerrymandering blue California to give Democrats a lift and offset the Lone Star lunge for power.

That would mean scrapping the political lines drawn by an independent citizens commission, which voters created nearly two decades ago to take line-drawing away from the state’s politicians.

Our columnists Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria disagree strongly, but amicably, on the wisdom and implications of Newsom’s threatened move. Here they hash it out.

Barabak: Gavin Newsom — or the 48th president of the United States, as he fancies himself — is perhaps second only to Donald Trump when it comes to surfing a political wave. And so it is with redistricting and retribution.

It may set partisan Democratic hearts to racing — which is part of Newsom’s intent — but it’s a bad move for all sorts of reasons. Not least, ignoring the will of California voters, who resoundingly told the state’s self-dealing politicians no mas!

I understand the fight-fire-with-fire attitude that animates partisan support for the get-even talk by 48, er, Newsom. But the danger is causing even more widespread damage.

Over the years, a lot of zeitgeist-y moves by the headline-hungry Newsom have come to naught. This is another that belongs on the scrap heap.

Chabria: I agree that the Vegas odds are on the side of this tit-for-tat being nothing more than a partisan headline-grabber.

But.

There is a larger and more important question here that boils down to how seriously you believe our democracy is in jeopardy.

If, Mark — as I think you are inclined to at least hope — this too shall pass and our next election will be free and fair, however it may land, then the idea of gerrymandering our congressional districts can be nothing but appalling. This is especially true in California, one of the few states in which the people have voted to ensure our electoral maps are drawn with nonpartisan fairness in mind.

If, like me, however, you think we are on a knife’s edge of losing our democracy to authoritarianism — or at least an oligarchy where hate is wielded for power — then gerrymandering becomes a form of peaceful resistance.

Newsom recently said, “We can act holier-than-thou. We can sit on the sidelines, talk about the way the world should be, or we can recognize the existential nature that is this moment” — which gives you an idea of his thinking, and frankly, mine.

I’ll dive into that more, but maybe that’s where we start. Do you think our democracy is sound and what we’re witnessing is just a period of discontent that will pass without lasting harm?

Barabak: I sure hope so.

I yield to no one in my disgust with Trump and concern about what he’s doing. He’s authoritarian. Autocratic. Arrogant. Anti-democratic. And that’s not even getting past the letter “A.”

But actions like the one Newsom threatens on redistricting don’t take place in a vacuum, which is important to bear in mind. Short-term tactical gains can result in long-term pain.

For instance: In 2013 Democrats were so upset about Republican blockading of President Obama’s judicial and executive branch nominations that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid invoked the “nuclear option.” At Reid’s behest, the Senate narrowly voted to change its rules and disallow the filibustering of presidential nominees.

The result is Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and a whole clown car of Trump Cabinet members.

And while Democrats explicitly said the rule change would not apply to the Supreme Court, once the door was open Republicans shouldered their way through and eliminated the filibuster for those nominees as well. The result is Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and the high court’s 6-3 Trump-coddling conservative super-majority.

Those who fight fire with fire risk getting badly burned.

If Democrats want a war over redistricting, Republicans have a lot more ways to gerrymander and potentially gain seats — in places such as Florida, Missouri and Ohio — than Democrats.

Chabria: No doubt. But, and this is as low as it gets, I’ll pay the price of a Hegseth, maybe even two, if it really does save democracy. Here’s the reality: The only hope of a Congress that will curb Trump through the democratic process is shifting at least some power to Democrats in the 2026 election.

If Texas Republicans, under pressure from Trump, manage to redraw as many as five new GOP-leaning seats — and it doesn’t blow up in their faces, which it could — the move would boost the chances the House remains a Trump entourage and the prospect of authoritarianism goes from brush fire to wildfire.

The truth is that gerrymandering is far more common than most realize. Kevin Johnson, an expert with the Election Reformers Network, wrote recently that “In the 1990s, only 40% of the seats in the House of Representatives were considered a sure thing for one party or the other, now that figure is 83%.” That’s because most states gerrymander.

Really, the only truly competitive races take place in states such as California that have independent, nonpartisan folks drawing the election maps. So to play devil’s advocate, we’ve already lost to gerrymandering in the U.S. and California just doesn’t know it.

That’s a problem that could be solved if a future president and Congress wanted to do so. But it requires getting to a future president and Congress. I always put this on the record: I care neither about Republicans or Democrats. I care about democracy.

If California gerrymandered, helped turn Congress into a real check against authoritarianism and left fixing gerrymandering for later, would it really be so bad?

Barabak: Your crystal ball must be less hazy than mine.

I’m not all convinced that even a gain of five Texas House seats would guarantee GOP control of the House. (And let me put this on the record: I think what Trump and his Texas handmaidens are doing is thoroughly reprehensible.)

Since World War II, the out-party has picked up an average of more than two dozen House seats in midterm elections. Democrats need a gain of three to seize control.

There’s even, as you suggest, a chance Republicans’ political pigginess backfires by spreading their voters too thin, creating districts that Democrats might pick up if there’s a big enough blue wave.

Speaking of moves backfiring, it’s no sure bet Californians would approve Newsom’s gerrymander effort if he put it to a vote in a special election to override the commission.

Surrendering power to politicians is a pretty big ask in today’s environment. And it’s not as though Newsom has a deep reservoir of goodwill to draw upon; just look at his poll numbers.

He went to South Carolina to, allegedly, campaign for Democratic House candidates, even though the state hasn’t a single competitive contest. California has about 10 races that look to be at least somewhat competitive — yet you don’t see fellow Democrats clamoring for Newsom to drop by their districts.

Chabria: I don’t have a crystal ball. What I do have is a deep well of foreboding, but an optimist’s hope that your blue wave, power-to-the-people scenario happens.

In the meantime, Newsom said Friday that redistricting “is not a bluff,” and he is exploring multiple ways to do it.

On that list is a legal gamble. Our current redistricting laws say maps have to be drawn fairly every 10 years, after the census — but doesn’t specifically say we can’t gerrymander in between. Newsom is basically suggesting cheating with a sunset clause: Immediate redistricting that benefits Democrats, but that would expire when the regular redistricting happens.

It’s drastic, and may just wind up tied up in courts indefinitely.

But I am frustrated that politicians, pundits and even regular people continue to treat this administration as just politics as usual, and I appreciate that Newsom is not, even if part of it is driven by personal gain for a 2028 presidential bid. Perhaps our democracy has been on the brink before, but that makes this cliff no less dangerous. We the people need to think outside of our regular reactions to Republicans vs. Democrats or cultural wars or partisan divides or any of the far more harmless stressors that have plagued our system in the past.

What I like about Newsom’s jab is that it forces us to have conversations like this one, and ask ourselves how do we fight differently?

Because this fight is different.

Barabak: This may sound Pollyannaish, but I think there’s nothing about these frightful times that can’t be remedied at the ballot box.

Texas may have a competitive U.S. Senate race next year. If Texans don’t like the ruthlessness of GOP lawmakers and their power grab, they can send a message by electing a Democrat, helping the party overcome the odds and take control of the chamber. That would put a check on Trump, regardless of whether Republicans hang onto the House.

It’s in the hands of voters. If democracy is going to be protected and preserved, it’s up to them. Not scheming politicians.

Gov. Gavin Newsom stood alongside six Democrats from the Texas Legislature on Friday and joined them in accusing President Trump and Republicans of trying to “rig” elections to hold onto congressional seats next year.

“They play by a different set of rules and we could sit back and act as if we have some moral authority and watch this 249-, 250-year-old experiment be washed away,” Newsom said of the nation’s history. “We are not going to allow that to happen.”

The Texas lawmakers and the governor spoke with reporters after meeting privately at the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento to discuss a national political fight over electoral maps that could alter the outcome of the midterm elections and balance of power in Congress.

At the urging of President Trump, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called his state Legislature into a special session this week that includes a call to redistrict the Lone Star State to help Republicans pick up seats in Congress.

The move is part of a gerrymandering effort pushed by Trump to prevent the GOP from losing control of the House of Representatives next year. If Democrats take the House, they could derail the president’s agenda, which has so far included a crackdown on undocumented immigrants, tariffs on imports, rescinding efforts to combat climate change and undercutting state protections for the LGTBQ+ community, among other policy priorities.

Newsom has threatened to mirror Trump’s tactics and said he’s in talks with leaders of the California Legislature to redraw the state’s congressional districts to favor electing more Democrats and fewer Republicans.

Texas Democrats, who said they traveled to California to meet with the governor and explain the state of play in Texas, pledged do everything in their power to push back against Trump’s plan.

“We’re going to use every tool at our disposal in the state of Texas to confront this very illegal redistricting process that is going to be done on the backs of historic African American and Latino districts,” said Texas state Rep. Rafael Anchía.

Another group of Texas lawmakers are expected to meet with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker in Chicago.

Changing the maps to benefit Democrats is a massive departure from California’s work over the last decade to remove political partisanship from the redistricting process.

California voters in 2010 gave an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission the power to determine the boundaries of voting districts for the U.S. House of Representatives instead of leaving that authority with the state Legislature.

To redistrict before the midterms, the most legally sound option is for state lawmakers to send a constitutional amendment to voters that seeks to allow changes to the voter map outside the boundaries of California’s independent redistricting process. The vote would need to happen in a special election before the June primary.

Newsom has said he’s also exploring a potential legal loophole that could allow the California Legislature to redraw the congressional maps themselves with a two-thirds vote.

The governor’s office said state law charges the redistricting commission with crafting new maps after a census, which is conducted about every 10 years. But they say the law is silent on everything that happens in between that time period.

Newsom’s lawyers believe it could be possible for the Legislature to redistrict congressional seats mid-decade on its own without going to the ballot.

The governor’s call to fight Trump using his own gerrymandering tactics has drawn a mixed response.

Newsom argues that Democrats will continue to lose if they remain the only party that plays by the rules. But others worry about the integrity of electoral outcomes across the nation if political parties in every state resort to naked political gamesmanship to gain control.

Texas Republicans have long been accused of crafting political maps to dilute the power of Black and Latino voters, which led to an ongoing lawsuit from 2021. Newsom’s effort in California would effectively seek to increase the share of Democrats in Republican-held districts.

Redistricting experts in California say redrawing the maps in the Golden State could create the potential for Democrats to flip at least five of the seats held by GOP incumbents.

Democrats may have the potential for greater gains from gerrymandering, particularly in places such as California that have attempted to practice nonpartisan redistricting, compared to states such as Texas, where maps are already drawn in favor of Republicans.

“It should be no surprise to anybody who covers Texas that every decade since 1970 Texas has been found to discriminate against people of color in its redistricting process,” Anchía said.

“In trying to do this, it is going to create great harm, not only to the people we represent, to the voters of the state of Texas, but also potentially to all Americans,” he said about Trump’s plan.

It’s common for the party in control of the White House to lose seats nationally in the first election after a presidential contest. Republicans hold majorities in the Senate and the House, and losing power to Democrats could be detrimental to Trump’s presidency.

Trump’s job approval rating dropped to a second-term low of 37% in a Gallup poll conducted earlier this month. The dip is just above his lowest approval rating ever of 34% at the end of his first term.

Trump has said publicly that he thinks it’s possible for Republicans to redistrict and pick up five seats in Texas, with the potential for gains in other states that redraw their maps.