Coachmen Industries announced on March 19th, 2007 in a press release that it has entered into and agreement with Natural Source Energy Systems to research and develop recreational vehicles and systems-built structures that take advantage of environmentally friendly biodiesel fuel and solar power.

To begin, Coachmen Industries is providing NSESI with a Sportscoach Class A diesel pusher, a Coachmen Class C diesel motorhome and a Coachmen fifth wheel trailer. NSESI will adapt the Coachmen units to incorporate new state of the art, high efficiency solar panels. Once the prototypes are ready, the companies will put the RVs through extensive testing using solar energy and biodiesel fuel across the country.

Coachmen say that it is too early to discuss when this technology will go into production and that they have a tremendous amount of testing to do but that they are excited about the prospect of improving the energy efficiency of their products.

See the full press release here 

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Readers comments: Latest shown first  Dan.. :   Biodiesel? NEED more and it should be a BETTER price, the big guys are just going to make more and more $$. Ashley :   Biodiesel should be available more and all RVs should have big solar panels. We have 2 solar panels that we added to our Fleetwood MH and it makes a big difference and we'd use biodiesel if it was available. LMK :   Good news on the env/RV, I'd wait for it if I could, or will upgrade when I can. Now am looking for 1990-2000 age Roadtrek or Pleasureway, low miles, up to $25K. Any leads? Please email response, thanks. Sonia Bruce :   Don't agree with the criticism of Coachmen, we have a 2005 Concord and we love it. I also think we need all vehicle manufacturers to move ahead with environment things as fast as possible and I like it that Coachmen are taking this initiative. What are the other RV manufacturers doing about environmental technology? razorback :   Before driving off of the lot with any Coachmen product, inspect it carefully. My 2001 seems to have been put together by a beginner vocational class. I had to finish tightening water fittings and straightening crooked mounted overhead light fixtures and one floor vent is missing the louvers that were supposed to open or close. Major amount of bubbles on the roof that are "within the limits". I have never seen AMERICAN WORKMANSHIP LIKE THIS BEFORE. Jim R :   I think this is great, I don't really see why it should take so long. I think the biodiesel is down to the engine manufacturer and solar panels are well-established technology. I think they should get these RVs out there and then just keep improving them and making them more and more environmentally friendly. Add your comments: Your comments* Your name (the name that will be seen)* Your real name (not shown) Your email (not shown) Please type this security code into the box to the right Capital letters please (we're trying to prevent spam) Title* Other RoTi news items about this company or subject: Biofuels - "expensive and ineffective" 01/22/2007 UK government report - "biofuels don't help fuel security as they largely rely on fossil fuels for their production" Coachmen "gains momentum" 12/21/2007 "More satisfied customers and a huge boost for Coachmen's winning team" - "a host of new, innovative products" BioBox - producing biodiesel in a box 10.29/2007 Soon your local restaurant could be producing biofuel - new plant aimed at small scale production Coachmen quality improvements 10/10/2007 Coachmen gets a perfect score in an RVIA quality audit - "quality of the RV is the number one customer concern" Research funding for vehicle efficiency 08/8/2007 DOE provides $21.5 m for optimization of engines for ethanol use and exploring high efficiency, clean engines Biofuels from animal fats 7/23/2007 Tyson Foods chicken, beef and pork fats to be used for biofuel - "can be used in diesel engines with no mods needed" Biodiesel powers major sports events 7/11/2007 Fox Sports is using biodiesel to power the All-Star Baseball Game and other major events - what about your RV? RVing is changing - July 2007 update 7/06/2007 Let's face it - you aint seen nothin' yet - RoTi's latest opinions based upon your input and every source we can find ... Biodiesel gets new research funding 7/02/2007 The U. S. Department of Energy announces it will invest up to $375 million in three new Bioenergy Research Centers Coast-to-coast with biodiesel 6/21/2007 Family take their motorhome on coast-to-coast trip using only biodiesel to promote the renewable energy message Coachmen gain market share 5/26/2007 Class A diesel motorhomes up 18%, Class C up 18%, towables up 5% - innovative products with "wow" Coachmen "soft market" but "encouraging" 4/23/2007 1st quarter results - "disappointing" but new products result in market share gain What is bioenergy? 4/11/2007 Biofuel, biomass, bioenergy, biodiesel, diesel - what is it - what's the difference? - the government's answer ... Coachmen Spirit of America 4/4/2007 This popular travel trailer is now available in 15 floorplans - 7 are lightweight models for easy towing Not enough biodiesel gas stations 3/27/2007 "Right now there are approximately 1,100 E85 pumps in the U.S. and 1,000 biodiesel pumps, out of 170,000 gas stations." Cummins approves B20 biodiesel 3/26/2007 The popularity and use of biodiesel fuel continues to climb - Cummins now upgrades from B5 to B20 ... Environmentally friendly RVs 3/19/2007 Coachmen says it is developing motorhomes and fifth wheels with environmentally friendly biodiesel and solar power Biodiesel for your RV? 2/17 /2007 A domestically produced, renewable fuel that you can use in your diesel engine? Biodiesel may be the fuel for you .. Coachmen RV posts $16.7m loss 1/31/2007 "We encountered contracting markets .. the most difficult since 1989." 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Environment friendly RVs - see also: Biodiesel for your RV? Why don't we want the diesel?  Will motorhomes NEED to be more fuel efficient soon?</