I’ve been car camping long enough to consider myself a pro.
Setting up gear? Eyes closed. Building a fire? As natural as breathing. I even know which spot at which valley gets the best shade in the afternoon. Yeah, I’m that person.
But no matter how dialed-in my routine got, there were always things I just… accepted as impossible.
Wet hair after swimming in the stream? Air dry it is. Want to run a fan at night? Better keep one eye on that portable battery percentage. Too hot to sit outside during the day? Either run the engine for the AC, or just suffer.
I always packed three or four butane canisters. The portable battery was never enough. I assumed that was just the deal — the unwritten rules of car camping.
Then I saw a video that broke everything I thought I knew.
Someone blow-drying their hair. At a mountain stream. With an actual hair dryer.
…Excuse me?
A hair dryer had never even made it onto my packing list. It lived in the same mental category as “things that are simply not possible in nature.” Like a law of the universe.
Except apparently it’s not.
I booked an electric car rental immediately.
| Welcome to the V2L World
Turns out, electric vehicles have something called V2L — Vehicle to Load.
It lets you pull electricity stored in the car’s battery and use it outside the vehicle. In plain terms: your car has a built-in outlet (220V in Korea) that can power real appliances. The car becomes one giant, mobile power bank.
And the setup? Almost embarrassingly simple. Plug the V2L adapter into the charging port — and that’s it!
The model I rented — the IONIQ 5 Long Range — packs an 84 kWh battery. That’s roughly equivalent to a week’s worth of electricity for a family of four. A far cry from anxiously watching a portable battery creep toward 20%. I plugged it in at 100% and hit the road.
| One Hour, Full AC, 88% Left — Not Bad at All
My destination is Gwangtan-ri Valley in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi-do, about 70 km from Seoul. A familiar route, but this trip felt different from the start.
Normally, half my packing list is survival gear — butane canisters, a gas burner, and a power bank. This time, those got swapped out for an electric grill, a hair dryer, a fan, and a gaming setup.
The vibe of the whole trip had shifted genres.
AC on full blast the whole way there. Pulled up to the valley in an hour — battery still sitting at 88%. Not a bad start.
The moment I opened the car door, the smell of grass and the sound of running water hit me all at once. This is exactly why I can’t quit camping.
| One Click, and the Valley Becomes My Living Room
Set up the awning tent, unfolded the table and chairs, took a breath. Same routine as always — until one thing changed.
The V2L adapter, plugged into the charging port.
One satisfying click. Done.
I tested it with the fan first. It spun up immediately, full speed, no hesitation.
With a portable battery, my first thought would’ve been how long is this going to last? Not this time. It felt exactly like plugging something in at home. After all, even car camping is all about having the right gear.
| Who Blow-Dries Their Hair at a Valley? Me, Apparently.
Of course I had to get in the water.
Started with just my feet, but the water was so refreshing I ended up fully soaked, hair and all.
Old me would’ve toweled off and sat around waiting for the sun to do its job. But this time, I just grabbed the hair dryer.
Same airflow. Same heat settings. Exactly like being at home. Dry hair in minutes. Good mood immediately restored.
And while the dryer was running, I plugged in my phone — nearly dead from taking too many photos — and charged both at the same time, zero issues.
Gone are the days of carefully rationing a portable battery, charging one device at a time.
| Goodbye Butane. Hello Electric Grill.
After all that swimming, I was hungry. I’ll be honest — I was skeptical about the electric grill. I’d heard too many times that “electric grills aren’t powerful enough.”
I put the pork belly on and waited for disappointment.
It started sizzling faster than I expected.
The heat was comparable to a gas burner — but no wind to fight, no flame to babysit, no running out of butane mid-cook. I threw ramen in a pot next to it. That was done quickly too.
Valley views. Pork belly and ramen. If you can eat that combination without enjoying it, I genuinely don’t know what to tell you.
The scenery does half the cooking. I truly felt that today. Next time, I’m bringing an electric kettle. I want coffee with that view.
| Gaming in a Valley-View Game Room
After eating, that post-meal drowsiness hit — and the temperature outside was sitting at 31°C. In my old car camping days, this was always the part where everything got uncomfortable. Run the engine for AC and stress about the wear on the motor? Tough it out in the heat? Keep the fan going and watch the portable battery drain in real time?
This time, I just turned on the AC. Then I folded down the back seats, laid out a blanket, and took a nap.
Two hours later, I checked the dashboard. Battery down by 2%.
That was the most surprising moment of the entire trip.
With battery still comfortably available, I set up the gaming console and monitor, reclined halfway in the back seat, and played.
Turns out the best gaming setup isn’t in your living room — it’s parked by a valley. Now I just need to decide which view gets to be my next gaming backdrop.
| Final Score — How Much Battery Was Left?
Hair dryer, electric fan, phone charging, electric grill, AC, gaming console, monitor. Plus a 140 km round trip between Seoul and Yangpyeong.
Final battery reading when I got home: 68%.
Curious how that’s possible?
I did some digging. The IONIQ 5 runs on SK On’s 4th-generation NCM (Nickel-Cobalt-Manganese) pouch-type battery — engineered to pack more energy into the same physical space, which is how it achieves that 84 kWh capacity. Running appliances all day with room to spare? That’s the battery doing its job.
The charging specs are equally impressive:
- ⚡ 10% → 80% in approximately 18 minutes (fast charging)
- 🛣️ Up to 485 km on a single charge
And SK On is currently developing a Hyper Fast Battery (targeting commercialization in 2029) that could enable 450 km of range from just 7 minutes of charging. That’s about the time it takes to grab a coffee at a rest stop. You won’t even have time to get bored waiting.
| Honest Comparison: Then vs. Now
Let me break it down. Same camper, same destination, very different experience.
| Internal Combustion Engine Car Camping (old me) | Electric Car Camping (new me) | |
| Setting up a sleeping space | Air mattress, lots of fussing | Fold seats flat, lay down a blanket |
| Hair dryer | Not even on the list | Just plug it in — same as home |
| Cooking | Gas burner, butane canisters | Electric grill, no wind or gas worries |
| Afternoon AC | Engine idling | 2 hours of AC = 2% battery |
| Phone charging | Rationing a small portable battery | No stress whatsoever |
| Gaming setup | Not a chance | Valley-view game room |
| Power source | Power bank / Portable generator | V2L adapter |
I thought I was a seasoned car camper. Turns out I just leveled up.
Everything I had quietly accepted as “not possible” — the hair dryer, the AC nap, the gaming session — all of it became possible through V2L.
The better way to camp was out there all along. I just didn’t know about it yet.
Better late than never. Next trip, the prep list is going to look very different. Electric kettle, air fryer, maybe more.
The real car camping era starts now — because now I’ve got a giant mobile battery with me.
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