Voting for which food truck has the best offering is tricky, but picking one that is the most environmentally-conscious is now a cinch. Sandwich truck El Floridano has gone solar, leading the mobile food truck pack in energy efficiency in preparing your delicious meals.
“I recently installed solar modules and battery packs so that I don’t have to idle while cooking,” said El Floridano owner and operator, Stephan Boillon in a George Washington University Planet Forward report.
So Boillon can turn off the truck’s engine while he is on business, saving the planet and gas money. He told PF that he was spending $70 a week in fuel, but “that will probably go down to about $20 or $30.” This will help Boillon with his operating costs, but he said he did this more for awareness.
“The cost-benefit analysis isn’t really why I did this,” he said. “I did this to kind of educate and show people that it can be done, and that it’s feasible.”
He also mentioned that the total cost of going solar was $7,000, but PF’s Frank Sesno calculated that Boillon may get his return of investment in three years, shorter than the five years the chef predicted. GWU professor and entrepreneur expert Paul Swiercz echoed Sesno’s positive analysis and also said the sustainable add-ons make El Floridano unique.
“It looks good on two fronts. Not only will he be able to pay it back in three and half years, instead of the five years that he planned on, but he also has the opportunity to differentiate himself from others. His solar panel is evidence to commitment to sustainability that other food truck drivers simply aren’t going to be able offer at this point.”
Throughout August, Boillon tweeted that El Floridano was going solar. While he was on vacation at the end of August and beginning of September, the truck was getting a solar upgrade by Alexandria-based Continuum Energy Solutions, he said in a recent conversation.
So tasty and environmentally-conscious? That’s definitely a green treat many people will like to eat!
