Bangkok ice-cream vendors who currently pedal their carts in the baking sun are hoping to benefit from a locally invented device that will allow them to store energy and drive their carts using solar power.
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A 50 x 60cm solar cell built into the cart roof will capture solar power in a battery. Pracha Prakoonsuksapan, the managing director of AHT (Asia), a local freezer-manufacturer who has developed what he calls a solar-cell ice-cream cart, told The Nation that once the battery is fully charged, the vendor can switch to a mode that allows the motor to drive the cart.
It should be able to store energy for two hours after the sun has disappeared. An initial prototype is expected to carry 150kg of ice cream at 15km per hour.
