I sat down with Raymond, the owner of a luxury Sprinter van rental service in Vegas. He's grown his business rapidly, renting ...

Carson Reid, 32, and Jeff Singer, 31, met working at Amazon and shared an interest in "van life." In 2020, they turned their first van into a rolling vacation home that they now rent for $350 a night.

No one is getting into this business for the excitement. Cargo vans, electric or not, are about as boring as motor vehicles get, the automotive equivalent of dry white toast.

The once-tiny cottage industry of van conversion companies has found itself in the center of a distinctively pandemic-era dilemma: ravenous demand and monthslong backorders on virtually all supplies.