THE world's first solar-powered ice cream van has served a record 300,000 cones this year - and it's based in Somerset.
David Baker, founder of luxury ice cream makers Styles Farm, Rodhuish, Minehead, Somerset, built the van.
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Mr Baker disliked how much smoke was billowing from the vans when stationary due to the engine needing to be on for the ice cream machines to work.
The business was founded on an Exmoor farm in 1988, making ice cream out of a neighbour's milk.
Mr Baoer has now moved into his own premises, and solar panels cover the roof of the ice cream dairy, powering the freezers below.
The sun-charged van has been delivering cold treats to customers - without harming the planet.
Due to the amount of sunlight, the business has pumped out around 300,000 ice cream cones so far this year - a record amount.
Mr Baker is now fitting solar panels to his production dairy as well.
This summer has brought more sunny hours than normal, helping produce 30 per cent of the power needed to make Mr Baker's ice cream.
Mr Baker said: "Without a doubt, the amount of sunlight is crucial for the production of power.
"It’s all about how much sunlight there is. The solar panels that we put on the battery went live on the first of February.
"At the moment we have produced 33.1million watts since February.
"We will be developing all of this and more and our aim is to have 80 per cent that we produce of our electric."
This year has been the "exceptional year" in terms of sales, said Mr Baker.
In June, the Met Office reported it had been the sunniest spring on record, with more than 653 hours of sunshine.
The season was followed by the fifth warmest July on record.
He said, " We can’t expect next year to be as good.
"I know we got global warming but the weather changes in patterns and we are very likely not have the same sort of pattern next year.
"We have sold close to 300k cones this year."
Mr Baker now plans more panels, on more buildings, to boost his solar power to around 80% of the energy needed for his ice cream.
"My electricity bill is £72,000 a year," he said. "I can cut that to about £10,000."
David came up with his solar powered van idea back in 2016 but couldn't anyone in the industry who believed in his vision.
He decided to build the vans himself and after two years of work on the concept, the Styles Farm had their first fully operational solar powered van.
Currently, the three vans are capable of operating for four days of 24 hour trading at a large music festival in sunny weather before needing a power supply for four hours to recharge.
The solar panels provide enough power to run the freezers, ice cream makers and coffee machines.
David said: "Through the summer, if you've got nice sun, the solar panels create enough power to run the facilities inside the van.
"Obviously, if you get a lot of cloud, they don't produce as much power, but your trade isn't all that high either so it usually evens out."
During the summer, the ice cream company attends 160 shows over the five month period every year and can produce up to 500 ice creams an hour like a regular van.
He said: "People are wanting us to move toward a low energy, low carbon, low footprint.
"Even where we are now in the factory, we will be moving to see if it is possible to create all our own energy and recycle water and things like that.
"We've got one van that has a coffee machine on it and we're even looking at bringing in a crepe machine soon.
"It's massive fun we are having - all of the staff have had about 60 crepes.
"It's very enjoyable and I love thinking out how it will all work and slot together."
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