Alpha Motors Creates the Perfect Off-Grid Basecamp With CAMP, but There’s a Catch

Alpha Motors is often described as the “mysterious” California-based EV startup that promises to shake up the industry with a series of vehicles that cover all the basics in terms of functionality, performance, budget, and, perhaps just as importantly, looks. Alpha Motors EVs are tech-packed and very stylish, with a clearly retro-inspired design that brings heavy nostalgia – which doesn’t come across as old-fashioned because it’s balanced by innovation.

Alpha Motors EVs are also non-existent as of the time of press. With the exception of the mockup Wolf+ truck displayed at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, it doesn’t look like any other EV from this startup has been built. If it has, it’s the world’s best-kept secret. According to online reports, it could very well be that Alpha Motors doesn’t even have manufacturing partners or, for that matter, plans for an assembly/production unit. Again, if it does, it’s a well-guarded secret.

Yet Alpha Motors regularly releases new “models,” CGI (computer-generated images) additions to an already-vast lineup, always accompanied by the promise to bring them to market sometime in the future. Whether that’s 2023 or 2030 at best remains to be seen. The CAMP is also like that, with the sole twist that there are no plans to ever bring it to market.

CAMP stands for Collaborative Adventure Mobility Platform, because the off-grid capable solution is a collaborative effort with Rolling Stone Korea, Free & Easy, DMOS Collective, Equipt Expedition Outfitters, KC Lights, Black Rhino Wheels, and Onyx Coffee Lab. Alpha Motors brings to the table the base vehicle, the Adventure Series Rex, which, why, yes, only exists as renders, too. But almost everything else about CAMP exists, in the sense that products displayed in the video below and the photo gallery are digital twins of physical counterparts. Think of it as a very meta way of advertising for real products.

According to Alpha Motors, CAMP is not advertising but their way of pushing for innovation by creating new possibilities through virtual travel. “Alpha's advanced application of virtual validation vertically integrates the automotive value chain,” the company says. “It goes beyond producing beautiful cars, it improves safety, optimizes process, and saves resources to enable access to high quality EVs for the mass market. We are excited to collaborate with forward-thinking brands to revolutionize the industry and bring focus to a healthier and more sustainable future.”

That’s a lovely sentiment (and a nicely packaged word salad), but it’s easy to talk about going beyond producing cars when, as far as the world knows, none has been produced yet. Perhaps the most frustrating part is that CAMP is actually pretty awesome and would have deserved some sort of shot.

The Rex electric AWD SUV rides on BF Goodrich Mud Terrain KM3 Tires mounted on 17-inch Black Rhino Fuji Wheels and has the rear cabin removed to allow packing more gear. Attached to the Rex is a teardrop-form trailer, also by Alpha, with a rooftop tent on top. The trailer features a mattress and storage space, while the tent can comfortably accommodate three more people. There’s a kitchen in the tailgate, folding chairs, a barbecue grill, coffee mugs, solar panels, and a 1938 Gretsch guitar propped against the door – a replica of the real-life guitar once played by Alpha Head of Business Development Joshua Boyt’s grandfather.

Because this is meant to be a complete, albeit virtual solution, Alpha Motors throws in a yurt with the purpose of further expanding the entertaining/socializing options at camp. Throw in an inflatable mattress for four, copies of Rolling Stone Korea around, and you have the perfect place to hang out in between breaks from whatever adventures you have in mind – whether completely sheltered from the elements or with just shade protection because the yurt has removable walls.

Alpha Motors CAMP might not be real, but the accompanying website links to overlanding accessories you can actually use. You know, for your current off-grid rig that actually exists.