Students at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) have demonstrated once again the ingenuity and motivation of today’s youth to meet the challenges of climate change.
The team built a solar-powered charging station so that an on-campus food truck can make emission-free deliveries.
The team has gone above and beyond building a prototype or a technology demonstrator. They have made a fully functional solar-powered charging station that can energize a commercially built electric vehicle. Though it’s not as “sexy” as a Tesla, the food truck is completely street legal and can reach a top speed of 25 miles per hour.
The vehicle is also a critical part of the university’s Food Recovery Network (FRN). The purpose of the FRN is to collect leftover food from the campus dining halls and deliver it to homeless shelters and kitchens in Chicago.
According to Clean Technica, the FRN was responsible for delivering more than 7,500 pounds of food to local shelters. Not only does this offer a solution to feeding the needy but also saves food from ending up in landfills. The addition of an entirely emissions-free food delivery vehicle makes the operation even greener.
