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Meet Nico Murillo, a former Tesla Production Supervisor who turned a layoff into a full-time life on the road. After five years at the Fremont factory, Nico lost his job in April 2024. His family sold their house, and he moved into his 2021 Tesla Model Y with little more than a homemade sleeping platform and a mattress. Since then he has been working through a 50-state road trip and documenting all of it on YouTube, where his channel has grown past 100,000 subscribers.
Today Nico lives in a Tesla Model X that he paid for in cash with his YouTube income, and he has gutted and rebuilt its interior into what he calls the “World’s First Tesla Van.” It is a great case study in how far car camping can be pushed when you treat a vehicle as a real home, not a weekend crash pad.
From the Fremont Factory Floor to Full-Time Car Living
Nico started at Tesla in 2019 as an entry-level production associate earning $19 an hour and worked his way up to Production Supervisor. Even then, car living was not new to him. To skip a three-hour round-trip commute between Lathrop and Fremont, California, he was already sleeping in his car on work nights.
When the layoff came, that habit became a plan. He built a platform in the back of his Model Y from Michaels and Home Depot materials, added a soft mattress, and hit the road. His goal is not just travel. By cutting out rent and debt and investing what he saves, Nico is working toward financial independence, or being “work optional,” by 2029. The Model Y years proved the concept: a Tesla can run its climate control all night from the main battery, so a parked EV stays comfortable in heat or cold without idling an engine.
Why He Moved Up to a Model X
The Model Y worked, but it was tight. The Model X is a larger vehicle with a longer cargo area and three rows of seating that can come out, which gives him far more usable floor space. It also has the signature falcon-wing rear doors, which open the whole side of the cabin and make getting in and out of a bed far easier than crawling through a hatch.
Stripping the Seats to Make Room for a Home
The conversion started by removing the rear seats, with the help of a friend, and covering the floor in black carpet. Taking out the seating, rather than folding it flat, is what gives the build its “van” feel. Folded seats leave lumps, angles, and wasted height, while a stripped floor gives a level surface to build on and puts every inch of headroom back into play. In a vehicle this size, that difference decides whether you can sit up in bed.
A Custom Plywood Drawer System
Instead of improvising with store-bought bins, Nico had a proper cabinet built at BE Customs. The drawer box was cut from birch plywood on a CNC machine, so every panel fits the curves of the Model X cargo area. Plywood is the go-to material for vehicle builds for good reason: it is strong for its weight, easy to work with, and holds screws and drawer slides well. A CNC-cut fit also means nothing rattles or shifts while driving.
A Full-Length Bed with a Clear Path to the Front
The cabinet sits low in the cargo area, and a carpeted top extends it into a flat sleeping platform that runs toward the front seats. A mattress with a gel topper goes on top. Because the bed runs down one side, there is still floor space next to it for a seat or a narrow aisle. Nico can sit cross-legged inside with room to spare, and the glass roof makes the space feel far bigger than it is.
A Real Fridge and Built-In Storage
An ICECO 12-volt fridge sits right beside the bed, with plenty of room for groceries and drinks. A real compressor fridge is one of the biggest quality-of-life upgrades for anyone living in a vehicle, because it means fresh food instead of ice chests and daily store runs. The platform panels lift up for access to storage underneath, so nothing has to live loose on the floor.
A Slide-Out Kitchen at the Rear Hatch
The best part of the build is at the back. Open the hatch and two full-extension drawers slide out on heavy-duty runners. One has a built-in sink basin, and the other holds his cooking gear. This is the same tailgate-kitchen layout many van builders use, and it makes a lot of sense in a car: cooking happens outside, so smells, steam, and grease stay out of the bedroom.
Inside the drawers are the essentials: a camp stove, pots and pans, and a water jug with an electric pump that feeds the sink. Everything has a home, so setting up dinner takes about as long as opening a drawer.
A Microwave Up Front, Powered by Portable Batteries
Between the front seats sits a compact retro-style microwave, right next to the silver play button YouTube sent him for reaching 100,000 subscribers. High-draw appliances like this run off portable power stations rather than the car’s 12-volt outlets. That keeps the kitchen independent of the car, and the stations can be topped up while the Tesla charges or while driving.
Video Tour: The “World’s First Tesla Van”
Watch the whole conversion, from pulling the seats to the finished build:
Design Details
- Vehicle: Tesla Model X (previously a 2021 Tesla Model Y)
- Owner: Nico Murillo, former Tesla Production Supervisor
- Layout: Rear seats removed, carpeted floor, full-length sleeping platform
- Cabinetry: CNC-cut birch plywood drawer system built by BE Customs
- Kitchen: Two slide-out rear drawers with a sink basin, camp stove, and cookware
- Water: Portable water jug with an electric pump
- Refrigeration: ICECO 12-volt fridge beside the bed
- Appliances: Compact microwave and rice cooker
- Power: Portable power stations plus the Tesla’s own battery for climate control
- Sleeping: Mattress with a gel topper
What Makes This Build Special
- An EV is a quiet, climate-controlled bedroom. A parked Tesla can heat or cool the cabin all night from its main battery with no engine running, which solves one of the hardest problems of car living.
- Removing seats beats folding them. A stripped, carpeted floor gives a level base and the most headroom possible.
- Custom-fit cabinetry pays off. CNC-cut plywood fills the odd curves of a car’s cargo area and stays silent on the road.
- Cook outside, sleep inside. A tailgate kitchen keeps cooking smells and moisture out of a very small bedroom.
- Start simple, then upgrade. Nico lived for two years on a homemade platform before investing in a full build, so he knew exactly what he needed.
- Car living as a financial strategy. Cutting rent out of the budget is what makes his 2029 financial independence goal realistic.
More From Nico’s Journey
Here is the full tour Nico filmed when he first bought the Model X, before the conversion:
And here is his breakdown of what it actually costs to live in a Tesla:
- 2 Years Living in a Tesla, No Rent
- 10 Tips on How to Live in Your Tesla
- How He Gets Free Power and Water Living in a Tesla
Follow Nico
Highlights
- Laid off from Tesla in April 2024 and moved into his Model Y full-time
- Upgraded to a Model X, paid for in cash with his YouTube income
- Rear seats removed and replaced with a full-length bed
- Custom CNC-cut plywood drawer system
- Slide-out rear kitchen with a sink, stove, and cookware
- ICECO fridge, microwave, and portable power stations
- Working toward financial independence by 2029
Related Stories
- From Layoff to Nomad: How He Turned his Tesla into a Stealth Camp Home on Wheels
- Full Tour: Living Full-Time in a Tesla Model Y “Tiny Home”
- Camping Platform for Tesla Model Y, S, or X
- Tee’s Stealth Nissan Maxima: A Sedan Turned Home on Wheels with a Hidden Fridge
- Blake’s Kia Niro EV Stealth Camper Car
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Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through one of our links, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.
Alex
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