I've seen a lot of luxurious ways to go camping in the past. Campers with built-in garages, “bubble” tents, tents with private bedrooms and more, but I particularly like this one.
It's called the Chill n' Charge Solar Tent and it's packed with technology. It has heated floors, a wireless charging area, Wi-Fi integration and its own lighting system. A group of retractable solar panels sits on top of the solar tent to power everything!
The solar tent is a concept designed by Kaleidescope Design for the French telecommunications company Orange. The plan was to use the tent at the Glastonbury Music Festival in the UK to help festival goers keep in touch with each other at night, as well as with friends and family back home. Covid has slowed down the plans, but the concept is still current.
The solar tent is expected to feature “Glo-cation” technology that allows users to find it by sending a text message or using an RFID tag. Upon receiving the message, the solar curtain lights up allowing you to locate it. A bit like we sometimes do with the car remote control, flashing the headlights to understand where the hell we put it in the hypermarket parking lot.
A technological favor
The solar tent is made of a semi-photovoltaic fabric. A mix of conventional wires and copper wires that retain heat and form a sort of "solar skin" along the entire tent. The adjustable panels complete the setup: they can be pointed towards the rising sun in the morning, upwards in the middle of the day and towards the sunset in the evening for optimal solar power during the day.
At night, however, the tent lights up with fantastic lighting.
A hi-tech solar curtain
A wireless control hub located inside the solar tent allows you to control everything from within the privacy of the tent. The hub will display informative graphs and data on the energy generated through the solar panels and the energy consumed. From there you can manage the tent's heated floors, wi-fi signal and more, all from a flexible touchscreen.
Also integrated into the control hub is a wireless charging pad that allows you to wirelessly charge phones, tablets, smartwatches and other devices that support it. No messy cables, chargers and adapters.
A sensor system on the solar awning can also enable a sort of “autopilot”. The heating is activated automatically when the outside or ground temperature drops below a certain level. In this way the temperature inside the tent remains constant throughout the night.
Solar tent, a concentrate of ideas for the future of camping
Like all concepts, Chill n' Charge contains stimuli and solutions that precisely outline the camping trends of the future. A minimal, but technological and hyper-connected campsite, which does not give up essential comforts. A vision that recognizes the revolutionary effect that cutting-edge solar technology and wireless communication can have on camping experiences.
The solar cells not only power the technology in the tent for the 4 adults who live in it, but also provide shade and keep the solar tent cool in the hot summer heat. Special screened windows provide adequate ventilation.
