Meet Toby Kraus & Ben Parker, founders of Lightship RV

Invest in startups like Lightship alongside Climate Capital here.

Founders: Toby Kraus, Ben Parker

Motto: Bringing RVing into the electric age.

Year Founded: 2020

Stage: Series A

Location: Boulder, CO / San Francisco, CA

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Climate Capital: What made you want to solve this problem?

Ben: "Toby and I got into climate--a defining issue of our time and one we've devoted our careers to--working at Tesla (he as a finance leader; I as a battery engineer). Lightship began as a pet project to electrify all of the food trucks into the Bay Area and picked up speed once we had set a course to build the first American all-electric RV manufacturer and bring the industry and pastime into the electric age.

Toby and I got into this work because we wanted to be a part of driving the next wave of electrification and saw the RV industry as a space nearly untouched by electrification efforts and with so much opportunity to build better products, travel and camping experiences through electrification and a generational brand.  The opportunity for impact is real -- and real large.  1 in 10 American families owns an RV, and the pastime is only getting more popular as the world gets more distributed and people gravitate back towards the outdoors.  We are excited to bring our first product to market over the next couple years!"

Climate Capital: What are you building?

Ben: Our first product, the L1, is a purpose-built, all-electric travel trailer designed to eliminate towing range loss and poor fuel economy, promote a seamless, clean power experience to run your RV trailer while camping (no more gas generators, propane tanks, carbon monoxide sensors...), and offer a spacious, airy, modern and connected living experience with digital controls at your fingertips.

Roughly 500,000 travel trailers sell every year in North America.  There are millions of pre-orders for electric pickup trucks such as the Ford F-150 Lightning.  Thanks to its outstanding efficiency and built-in electric drive, the Lightship is the only travel trailer that an electric truck can tow on a long distance road trip.  Lightship is a critical enabler for the growth of electrification in new demographics--especially the electrification of pickup trucks, the best selling vehicle class in America.
Climate Capital: What is next?

Ben: We have raised Seed and Series A funding, have grown to a world class team of over thirty full time employees and several fold more involved as external partners, and are in the midst of completing and launching the company publically with our fourth full-scale prototype -- the first fully functional Lightship.  Next order of business is to collect pre-orders and finish our production-intent design to gear up for the start of production!

Climate Capital: How do you hoster growth and career development for your employees?

Ben: We are a culture that holds autonomy and individual ownership of one's work hand-in-hand with the spirit of collaboration and being the teammate that you would want.  We have baked commitments to honoring and lifting up diverse perspectives into our business in the belief that doing so will make us a stronger, healthier, and more competitive business.  Finally, we are a fun-loving bunch -- many of us were attracted to work on sustainable recreational vehicles because of the joy we each take adventuring and spending time in the outdoors and our desire to preserve it for future generations.  Amidst the challenges and stresses of building a startup, we all try to look out for each other and stay balanced.

Climate Capital: What are the key challenges as you scale your company?

Ben: Vehicle manufacturing is a capital-intensive endeavor involving a highly complicated product with thousands of unique pieces.  Managing a large team to execute on the right product (what style blinds? how many must the RV sleep? etc.) at an extremely high level is a tough and exciting challenge.
Climate Capital: What have you learned that you want to share with other founders?

Ben:Establish your mission, vision, values (the last with company engagement) and your hiring process very early on and you'll thank yourselves.

Climate Capital: How can the broader climate community help you on your mission?

Ben: Explore and share our story with your RV- and outdoors-loving friends, family, and networks!