The EcoFlow link below is our referral link, and our Amazon.ca kit list earns a small commission — at no extra cost to you. We only list gear we run ourselves, and it helps keep the map free.
Power is the make-or-break of van life. Get the electrical system right and the fridge stays cold, the laptop charges, and the lights come on without a thought. Get it wrong and you are nursing a flat battery in a parking lot. This guide covers how to think about sizing an off-grid system, and the gear we run ourselves.
Two ways to power a van
There are two honest paths, and the right one depends on how far you are into the build.
A portable power station. A unit like an EcoFlow is a battery, inverter, and charger in one box. You plug devices straight into it and recharge from shore power, the alternator, or a folding solar panel. It is the right call if you are not ready to wire a permanent house-battery system but still need reliable off-grid power. Nothing is hard-wired, so it moves between vehicles and there is no install.
A wired house-battery system. A lithium battery bank, a DC-to-DC charger that tops it up off the alternator as you drive, roof or portable solar, and a pure sine wave inverter for AC outlets. More work and more cost up front, but it disappears into the build and scales to a fridge, induction cooktop, and a full day of laptop work. If you want this done right, the van-builds guide covers the installer who wired our own rig.
Sizing it without guesswork
Sizing is just arithmetic. List every load, estimate the hours per day each runs, and add up the watt-hours. A 12V compressor fridge might pull 30 to 60 watt-hours an hour averaged over a day; a laptop, 30 to 60 watts while working; lights and a fan, a little. Add it up, add a margin for cold and cloudy days, and that is the battery capacity you need to carry a day without a recharge.
Then size the recharge to match. Solar replaces some of it on a sunny day; the alternator replaces a lot of it on a driving day; shore power fills the rest. The honest failure mode is sizing the battery and forgetting the recharge, then wondering why three cloudy parked days drains everything. Plan to drive or plug in before the bank runs low, the same way you plan fuel.
The gear we run
Our real power, solar, and charging gear lives on our Amazon.ca kit list — portable power stations, DC-to-DC chargers, foldable solar blankets, inverters, and a monitor so you can see what the system is doing. It is what has earned its place in our own van, not a generic roundup. Prices and availability are whatever Amazon shows on the day; we do not control those.
The short version
Decide between a portable power station and a wired bank based on where your build is. Size the battery to your daily watt-hours plus a margin, then size solar and alternator charging to refill it before it runs low. Start from the gear we actually run rather than a spec sheet, and recharge on a rhythm instead of waiting for empty.