Nissan's idea for a better ice cream truck: Make it electric
Instead of gas-powered ice cream vans that require generators, Nissan built a prototype with electric batteries for rechargeable, renewable soft-serve.
The e-NV200 all-electric van came out last year, but this week, for UK Clean Air Day, Nissan unveiled how it could be modified to transport, deliver, and chill ice cream.
The truck has just under a 125-mile range with a 40kWh battery powering the motor. The precious cargo from Mackie's of Scotland is served from a soft-serve machine and a freezer, which are powered by Nissan's new recycled battery system called Energy Roam. The drink fridge is also powered through the energy system, which goes on sale later this year.
The two Roam power packs in the van can be fully recharged within an hour when plugged in. They can also be charged with the solar panels on the van's roof. The packs are made of lithium-ion battery cells recycled from Nissan electric vehicles (like the Leaf) from as far back as 2010.
Now you can have your ice cream and reduce your carbon footprint, too.
Topics Electric Vehicles
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
