Camping with the PV5

The main reason I went for the PV5 was the room inside, it was one of only two EVs on the UK market that had sufficient safe driving headroom for a tall driver.

I looked at getting a short term camper in the past, but the market was quite messed up, the VW Transporters sold for a lot of money even with massive mileages on them, as a primary vehicle, there was no way I was spending over £20k for something that's already done over 100,000 miles, regardless of how well someone claims to have looked after it, so I put the idea of the camper away and moved on.

With the PV5 Passenger, this is now absolutely back on the table, as whilst it wasn't the primary reason for my PV5 purchase, it costs so little to adapt, and no permanent modifications, it's a no-brainer not to.  I'm going to detail what I have done, and the costs (as of Summer 2026).

The Game Changer

Before I do so, there is a total game changer that is rarely spoken about with EV camper.  It's the air conditioning.  Unlike a petrol or diesel vehicle, you don't need to run the engine to run the air conditioning (OK, technically, you are running an electric motor, and that is the engine), but this means it's perfectly fine to leave the air conditioning on all night whilst sleeping in the vehicle.  It's very quiet and you get your perfect temperature all night long.  For this, you need to run in Utility mode (the mode that provides the 230V mains).  We were seeing 10% battery drain a day with the A/C on all night, also running a small fridge, and running an inductive hob and kettle a few times for cooking.

Bed Platform

There are a lot to choose from, some quite exotic to make the most of the space, however we wanted to keep things simple.  After a quick look around, we decided on the Coombe Valley Campers kit at £400, which is a well designed 15mm Phenolic Hex Birch Ply, it's solid, but packs away small. The design is really good, there is no need for a middle leg underneath, it's a very solid platform.  The side supports sit into the side pockets, and the weight is spread across the top of the wheel arches underneath, the interlocking grid goes in very quickly.

Once that is in, it's just a case of putting the top platform in, it locks into the lugs, It's quite heavy and a little awkward to move into place, I have done it myself, but this part is best a 2 person job.

Once that's in, put your chosen mattress in, and you are done.  I didn't go for the one from Coombe Valley, it was quite expensive, I picked up a folding 3 section 10cm thick memory foam one from Amazon for £80 and happy with it.

What's really great about this bed platform, is it is hinged in the middle, and can be used with the rear seats up as a bulkhead, I really like this design.  It's also split 2/3 to match the seats, with bungies, as as the seats are flattened, the board comes down with it.

As mentioned, there are lots of kits around for the PV5, this offered exactly what we wanted, without things we didn't, great build quality, and still came at a reasonable price-point

Window  Blinds

The PV5 has a LOT of glass, windows all round.  Great whilst on the move, everyone gets a great view.  Not so great for camping!  For this we bought a set of insulated window blinds from CamPal for £210. All the glass is covered, including the tiny quarter windows on the front pillars.  Almost all are suction cups, the only 2 that aren't are the driver and passenger front door windows, which are magnetic.  The front window is split, and attaches to each side with Velcro, I guess to make it easier to fit.  All the blinds are reversible, with the silver to reflect heat out in the summer or keep it in for the cooler months.

It comes with a nice storage bag.  The only downside is the suction cups leave marks on the glass, so need cleaning afterwards, but aside from that, happy with this purchase.

So that's the bare minimum I guess.  The bed platform and the window blinds.

Cost Total So far:  £610

Awning Rail

We also wanted to attach an awning tent so whilst I was up at Coombe Valley Campers, They also sold me (and fitted for me) a pair of awning rails (the PV5 Passenger has sliding doors both sides).  These were £185.  Very low profile, have a T-Channel if you want to fit roof bars, and a side 6mm awning channel.  You can get them directly from Kombi-Rak, but they aren't that easy a company to get hold of, they only seem to have a Facebook presence (yuk) and not much else.  Try:  info@vixxos.com

Awning Tent

The PV5 has the same roof height as the VW Transporters, which falls in the "low" 180cm - 210cm range (it's bang on the same as the VW at 190cm). We didn't have an awning tent, we spent a fair amount of time working out what was important to us, as there is a lot to choose from.  We decided we wanted about a 3m square footprint, it needed the main entrance facing forward, and we wanted it to be air beam and not poles.

We looked at quite a few online, got very confused, and came to the conclusion we really needed to see things set up.

We ended up taking a drive up to Redcote Leisure who have all their awnings set up, so you can get a proper feel and it really helped up find the right one.  In the end, the only one that ticked all the boxes for us was the Vango Quadris Air 2026 at £675.  It's well built easy to put up (not so easy to take down, as there is no vacuum suck on the pump).  It fits the PV5 really well, with the awning tunnel lining up nicely and no snags when opening the sliding doors.

Our first attempt at putting it up, there is some room for improvement, but it wasn't a bad effort.  Took about 20 mins, first time, I think we can do it in 10 mins in future.

Total Costs

Essentials
Coombe Valley Campers Bed Platform	£400
Campal Blinds	£210
Optionals
Kombi-Rak Awning Rails	£185
Vango Quadris Air	£675

We already had some stuff, like a portable electric camping fridge (Alpicool), from Amazon, and I also picked up an AmzChef portable induction hob from Amazon for £35, which is really good, and makes the most of having 230v 3.6kW inverter in the PV5, and it's so easy to clean compared to a portable gas stove.

Hope this is useful for someone, we have been away a couple of nights, once just the van, and once with the awning tent, and next month we are off to a 4 day music festival with this setup.  Will post how we got on!

Happy Camping!