Sherpa Power were kind enough to lend Quirky their PEAK 1.8 portable power station, exactly the kind of off-grid power kit that’s fast becoming a van life essential. We sent our Marketing Executive Zoë off on a five day road trip around Glasgow and Loch Lomond to see whether it’s really worth the hype for campervan adventures. Here’s what she found.
Quick specs
Price: Between £599.00-£699.00
Battery: 1024Wh, around 80Ah, LFP cells rated for 3500+ cycles or 10+ years of typical use (based on daily 100 to 0 percent use, after which it still runs at around 80 percent capacity)
AC output: 1800W continuous pure sine wave, 3600W surge
DC output: up to 20A, 280W max
AC input: 220 to 240V, up to 900W
Solar or DC input: 11 to 60V, up to 600W
Charge time: 1.2 hours from the mains, or 1.7 hours via solar or DC in ideal conditions
Warranty: 5 year standard warranty
Weight: 13.5kg
Expandable up to: 4096Wh, around 320Ah
“We knew we’d be relying on it heavily, boiling the kettle, keeping phones topped up and even charging a drone battery mid-trip, so we were genuinely curious to see how far one full charge would actually take us on the road.”
How far did one charge get us?
Turns out, further than we expected. One charge saw us through three full days of proper use, six phone charges, the kettle boiled twice, and a full drone battery charge, all before we needed to plug back in. We didn’t touch the solar panel on this trip, and honestly, we didn’t miss it.
Worth flagging for next time: there’s also a cigarette lighter adapter lead that tops the battery up as you drive between stops. We didn’t try it on this trip, but it’s a handy backup option if you’d rather not rely on mains or solar, every bit of driving becomes a bit of charging too.
What we loved about the PEAK 1.8
Ease of use, hands down. Whack it on, plug in, go. It’s brilliantly ported too, there’s always somewhere to plug something in, which when you’re juggling phones, laptops, fairy lights and a kettle in a small space, matters more than you’d think.
The battery we’ve used thus far has been a standard car battery, connected to a solar panel and a connector. It’s clunky, it can’t handle a kettle and we find that although off grid is possible, the battery isn’t the most reliable. The PEAK 1.8 totally changed this for us. It’s portability is the real USP here, as when solar lets us down, we can take it inside to charge it.
These are the charge options
There are three ways to top this up, the three pin mains cable, the cigarette lighter adapter while you drive, or solar. No USB-C or other plug shortcuts on any of them. We learned this the hard way when we left the mains cable behind for a day and hoped a standard lead would save us. It wouldn’t. Consider this your official warning: that cable does not leave the van without you, unless you’re relying on the cigarette lighter or solar instead.
Final verdict
Three days off one charge, six phone charges, a kettle boiled twice a day and a fully charged drone battery, the PEAK 1.8 earned its place in the van. It’s quiet, it’s simple to use, and with a 5 year warranty and the option to expand up to 4096Wh if your setup ever needs more, it’s built to be a long term part of your kit rather than something you’ll outgrow after one season.
For anyone weighing up whether a portable power station is worth the space in a campervan, this is about as easy a yes as we can give. Off grid power without the noise, the faff, or the constant checking of levels, just plug in and get on with the trip.
So the question is, where would you take your Sherpa Power PEAK 1.8, in a Quirky Camper perhaps?
