Many street vendors find their carts incompatible to their trade and felt the need for an affordable “cart model”.
Perhaps, understanding the difficulties of such vendors, a Mysuru-based food scientist has designed an “eco-friendly” street vending cart.
The solar-powered vending cart had been designed by Sridhar B.S. from the Department of Food Engineering in CFTRI and a prototype of the cart for hot and cold (juice) beverages will be rolled out soon. The cart – Solar Electro Mobile Street Vending Cart – can also be re-designed for vending food as well.
The cart comprises an electro mobile unit, equipped with solar powered rechargeable batteries, plug-in hybrid technology comprising Peltier systems for hot and cold beverages (four dispenser units) and an in-built waste disposal unit.
The solar panels can be installed on the roof of the cart for harnessing energy.
Dr. Sridhar said the energy-efficient cart helps street food vendors prepare hygienic beverages reducing air pollution. Also, the energy harnessed all through the day illuminates the cart.
“Many vending units don’t keep the streets clean and safe for their customers and provide them friendly service. Thus there is a need to develop innovative ways and practices for keeping the streets clean and safe while establishing a secure livelihood for vendors,” the scientist explained. The cart comes with a controller that monitors and controls temperature, battery power, user-interface panels (for automatic dispensing) and other system parameters.
