From kerbside flat whites to espressos served quick-smart, making fresh coffee requires lots of electricity and this presents a challenge for street vendors needing access to power in public settings. But a battery specialist from Nettetal, North Rhine-Westphalia, has come-up with a clever solution: a mobile coffee-shop cycle with built-in lithium-iron phosphate batteries to spark up power for day-long coffee preparation.

Liontron says its bicycles, complete with two PV modules (each 200 W) and storage technology, can output up to 300 cups of coffee per day. The roof-mounted, flexible and ultra-light solar modules are supplied by the German company GreenAkku. The energy requirement for running the coffee-making bicycle is circa 300 W per hour. Power is generated when the sun is shining and stored in three Liontron 100 amp-hour, 24 volt batteries, feeding into a 2,000 W Victron inverter which converts to 230 V battery power.

The manufacturer says the batteries can easily be replaced if damaged without the need for special tools. All the key components – including cells, battery management system and a Bluetooth module – are fitted together with screws, not glued or welded in place.
The new coffee bike is being showcased at the Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf, which opened on August 26 and runs until September 4. Liontron’s 300-cups-a-day claim is based on using a dual-boiler coffee machine and two raw bean grinders.