EKOCool By Coca Cola Keeps Beverages Chilled Using Solar Power
Many parts of India are off grid because they are in deep country, in rural areas where there is little or no connectivity. There are many villages which are without electricity. And even in cities and large towns, there are often power outages. It also gets extremely hot in India in summer. At such times, the sales of cold drinks are on the rise, but nobody really wants to spend money to buy a warm drink. So Coca Cola came up with and environmentally friendly solar cooler, called eKOCool.
This is a chest type cooler which has been developed in collaboration with Western Refrigeration in Mumbai. This cooler uses solar energy to chill the beverages, which take approximately four hours to overnight to cool. It can hold up to 48 bottles of 300 ml each, or two crates of the soft drink. What’s more the solar cooler can also charge your mobile phone and provide light for your home.
Solar power is plentiful in India. The company has already set up a pilot project in Agra and seen sales of its products increase. Africa is another country which has power shortages and many places are off grid there, too. In fact, Africa has already places orders for these coolers.
While Coca Cola has developed this cooler for its beverages, there is no doubt that potential for such coolers exists in many parts of the world without electricity, particularly if temperatures of stored products can remain stable. As long the price point of the cooler is affordable, people can even use them to store perishables like milk and other necessities without electricity.