{"id":3256,"date":"2022-07-03T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2022-07-03T13:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/?p=3256"},"modified":"2022-06-29T03:24:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T08:24:34","slug":"solar-powered-food-truck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/solar-powered-food-truck\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Set Up A Solar Powered Food Truck"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Being as eco-friendly as possible isn\u2019t just for consumers, but for businesses as well. You may or may not have noticed it, but more and more restaurants have started going green in a number of ways. These include such solutions as <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/best-food-suppliers-mobile-kitchen\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">looking for the best suppliers<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for locally and sustainably grown ingredients, and using biodegradable or reusable packaging for takeaway orders. So how can you do more to go green if you run a food truck?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In most cases, food trucks have a power cord that connects to utility lines, to ensure that electrical appliances used in food storage, prep, and cooking are up and running. When on the go or stationed somewhere without easy access to utility lines, however, generators are what supply that needed power. Such generators typically run on fossil fuels, but if you\u2019re trying to be more eco-friendly, you can actually use solar power instead. Here\u2019s what you need to know, and how you can set up your own solar-powered food truck. <\/span><\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 3px solid; padding: 10px; width: 100%; border-radius: 25px; border-color: #F4A70F; color: #007bff;\">\n<strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #007bff;\">What&#8217;s Inside<\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"#requirements\">Energy Requirements<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"#costs\">Running Costs<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a style=\"text-decoration: none;\" href=\"#factors\">Factors to Consider<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><b><\/b><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"requirements\"><b>Energy Requirements<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not all food trucks require the same amount of energy every day; usually, this depends on the food being offered and how big the kitchen is. On average, however, food trucks will need enough energy to power refrigerators, electric ranges and fryers, blenders or food processors. If you use food warmers and a microwave, you\u2019ll need electricity to run those, too.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All of this may seem like a lot, especially if you have more than one of each. However, newer solar-electric modules or photovoltaic (PV) systems aren\u2019t just more durable but also more efficient. In fact, those that can be mounted on the roof of your food truck can generate enough energy to meet your electricity needs.\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<b><\/b><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"costs\"><b>Running Costs<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On average, you can expect to spend at least $5 a day on fuel if you\u2019re using a generator, and at least $10 if you have a bigger generator or need to power more equipment. You also need to factor in the cost of labor and parts needed for maintaining said generator; in fact, repairing your generator or even replacing it can cost more, compared to installing solar panels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The price of a PV system, however, will depend on several things, particularly how much energy you think you\u2019ll need each day. Regardless of size, though, you could make back the cost of purchasing and installing said PV system in as little as nine months if your food truck runs for about 50 hours a week.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"uv-lst\" data-category=\"20\" data-count=\"6\" data-type=\"new\"> <\/div>\n<h2 id=\"factors\"><b>Factors to Consider<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><\/b><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it comes to renewable energy technologies, the progress has been remarkable in recent years. However, for food truck owners that do use solar energy, it\u2019s still an alternate or supplemental source of energy rather than the main one. Don\u2019t let that discourage you, though; after all, it\u2019s still better than relying wholly on fossil fuels. At the very least, you have a back-up source of energy if there\u2019s a power outage and you\u2019re dealing with a big group of customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you want to use solar power as your main energy source, though, there are several things to consider. The first, of course, is your menu. Some food trucks, such as sandwich or pizza trucks, will call for less energy in both storing and preparing the food; conversely, others such as coffee trucks, will call for more energy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keeping your menu in mind will\u00a0 help you with the next factor, which is determining how much electricity your food truck will require. You don\u2019t need to know the exact number, but knowing how much of your equipment runs on electricity and approximately how much power each one uses in an hour is a good place to start. Multiply each of those by the number of hours you plan to run your food truck each day, and you\u2019ll have a better idea of your projected energy consumption.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once you know your energy requirements, you\u2019ll know how big your food truck\u2019s solar power system will need to be to meet those energy needs. Don\u2019t forget to take your area\u2019s climate into account, since you may need more solar panels to harvest more energy to make up the difference on days when there isn\u2019t as much sunlight.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ultimately, it\u2019s the size of your PV system that will have some effect on the cost of installation. Whether you\u2019re still having the food truck outfitted with other equipment &#8211; in other words, it\u2019s still being built &#8211; or you\u2019re having the PV system added as an afterthought, you may find yourself paying up to $10,000 more, or 10% of the total cost for both vehicle and equipment installation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the end, having a PV system installed means you have more than one way to power your equipment, and even if you don\u2019t use solar power for just half a workday, you\u2019re likely to see a reduction in your running costs. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All told, however, it\u2019s still a good idea to have a generator for your food truck, as well as an easy way to get hooked up to an external power source. After all, any investment in your business won\u2019t be a waste of money since you\u2019ll eventually make back what you spent, whether it\u2019s on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/buying-food-truck-cooking-equipment\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">cooking equipment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or a solar power system. And even if your food truck is only partially solar powered, that\u2019s still a step toward being fully dependent on renewable energy.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Being as eco-friendly as possible isn\u2019t just for consumers, but for businesses as well. You may or may not have noticed it, but more and more restaurants have started going green in a number of ways. These include such solutions as looking for the best suppliers for locally and sustainably [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":191,"featured_media":3259,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[27,35],"class_list":["post-3256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-trucks","tag-food-truck","tag-food-truck-tips"],"modified_by":"Titus Asher","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/191"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3267,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3256\/revisions\/3267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usedvending.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}