In summary

• This will be the Last Voyage to the Playa for the Airpusher Steampunk Airship, as we know her.
• Our Airship (affectionately known as “Shippy”) has been an iconic art car on playa for over 10 years at Burning Man, but underneath her epic beauty is a gas guzzling 1985 Dodge D350 Ramcharger.  The journey she makes from San Francisco to playa and back (burning fossil fuels along the way) has always weighed heavily on our hearts, more so every year. 
• Going forward, we will be making new art that inspires a beautiful, socially just, lush and regenerative vision of the future.  Perhaps that might be a new Airship that fits with that vision, or perhaps it will be entirely new art that is completely different from what we’ve done before.
• But our first step is to give Shippy a “heart transplant” for her last Burn.  
• This fundraiser is to invest in a solar and battery system allowing us to run the Airship’s sound system and FX generator-free at BRC, powered solely by the Sun.
• This solar power system will then be the heartbeat - giving life to our next era of dreaming big and building new art that reflects a positive future of liberation, regeneration, and joy!

The Last Voyage to Playa for our beloved Shippy 

With hearts full of gratitude, we say goodbye to this version of our beloved Shippy; Burning Man 2024 will be her last. If you’re coming Home to the Black Rock Desert, please find us on the open playa, and dance with us in the dust. After her return from the Burn (hopefully in one piece), Shippy will continue making appearances at events, as we plot a new course forward for Airpusher Collective. 

It's time for a new vision and new art

We are embarking on a new journey of discovery - for the evolution of ourselves, our community, and our art.  We want to offer an invitation of preparation and an imagination of a new way of being in the world:

• Can our new art inspire a future of regeneration and social justice?
• Can we ignite our community’s collective imagination of a positive and thriving future where humanity lives in balance with the Earth and her natural systems?
• Can we imagine a radically different future where we incentivize the well-being of all beings?
• What would THAT future look like? 

In these answers will be our new direction as a Collective, and actualizing THAT future is what we will inspire with our actions, our dance parties, and our next big art project!

Saaaay... a Solarpunk Airship perhaps?  We know what you’re thinking - if we followed our own advice we would not build another art car as our next thing.  And perhaps we’ll end up building something completely different.  But it’s also difficult for us to ignore our legacy and not try to imagine ways we could either completely re-vamp or build an entirely new “Shippy 2.0.”  So we shall see.  But whatever we build will have to be aligned with our values and vision going forward, which include climate justice and renewable energy.

“Heart Transplant” for Shippy’s last burn - a first step to a better future

To change the world we have to change ourselves. Our first step in this direction will be to limit the fossil fuels we burn to bring our brand of joy to the world; so we’re giving Airpusher a “heart transplant” before her last voyage to playa.

We are raising funds for:

• Power - The ship’s sound system and FX will be powered by batteries charged entirely by the Sun at this year’s Burn.
• Reuse - The solar panels and batteries will be purchased used; post-peak efficiency units that might not otherwise find a home in our peak consumer economy
• Create and Inspire New Art - After the Burn, our new art will be built around this 100% sustainable power core. But rather than sit idle, when not actively powering our new art, it will continually beat life into the art of others by providing 18kW of solar power daily to the maker space at Seaport in Richmond, where Shippy is currently stored, enabling others to create art with tools and equipment powered by the Sun. 

With this new fossil-free heart transplant at the core of our beloved Shippy this year, we sever our last ties to the old wishful posturing and grab hold with both hands to rocket forward into a sustainable future together: A future full of love, care, and boundless imagination as we rally around this new “heart”, beating new life into our art, vision, and community.  Please join us in vaulting the Airpusher community into this bright and sunny future together!

Power Plan & Budget Details

To offer full transparency of what we are asking the community for and why, we present here the high level budget of our planned “heart transplant” for Shippy on her last burn.

We will be investing in eight used high-capacity lithium batteries, four on the ship and four charging at camp; 20 used solar panels; and the requisite peripherals. We’ll also be optimizing our draw with a transition over to modern and efficient Class D amplifiers for the sound system.

Details:

• 18kWh/day of solar panel energy production (at camp)
• 320W Solar Panels x 20 (used)
• ~$1,000 total
• 18kWh of battery storage (Tesla Model S batteries x 8; 4 @ camp charging; 4 on ship - used)
• Capacity: 5.3 kWh (230 Ah)
• Weight: 55lbs
• Discharge Current (Continuous): 225A
• Charging Current (Max): 225A
• ~$2,500 total
• 4500W solar charger controller (charging batteries @ camp - new)
• ~$300
• 6000W 120/240V Inverter + Charger (power for ship - new)
• ~$900
• 2000W 120V Inverter (power for camp - new)
• ~$100
• Other materials - Wires, crimps, mounting boxes, etc
• ~$1,200
• Efficient Class D amplifier to replace two inefficient Crest 8001 amps
• ~$4,000
• Total: $10,000

Thank you as always for your love and generous support! Please donate what you can - it's the individual contributions that add up to make Airpusher Collective what it is!