A former chef and barista in Swansea has managed to convert her mobile café enterprise to run entirely on solar power after self-teaching herself electronics by researching online and watching YouTube videos.
Ashley Collins, sole trader of start-up Flynn's Coffee, claims she is no longer reliant on running her diesel van to split charge her leisure batteries which power her barista equipment after learning how to draw power from solar.
She says she can now run her mobile barista venture using solar panels while selling her coffee at festivals and events across South Wales in between basing the business in Swansea Marina.
"From the very beginning of starting the business, my goal was to operate on solar power. Most people said it wasn't possible," said Ashley, who first managed to run her business solely from solar power in April this year.
She started learning the basics of electronics in 2017 with an ambition of launching her own mobile café business that was also solar-powered.
She said: "I did a lot of research online, watched loads of YouTube videos on electrical set-ups within campervans and vans which were also mobile cafés. A lot of the ones that I found on mobile cafés, they were using the main power source from festivals rather than leisure batteries. It took forever to find an example of that to start with."
Ashley said she soon fell down a "rabbit hole of YouTube videos" trying to find how to use a leisure battery to power her mobile barista bar.
She said: "I found a video which showed how leisure batteries were set up in a boat, but I thought I need more power. I had to do a lot of math to figure out what power I would need and eventually went to Go Outdoors to get some batteries to test my theory."
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Ashley finished setting up her mobile café van in 2019 and began trading at small food festivals while working full time as a chef and barista. She was preparing to take to festivals in 2020 while working as a chef before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
"The week I was about to start working in the kitchens, all restaurants had to close down. I spent two months rewriting my business plan and researching footfall at local parks. Fortunately, Swansea Council had a pitch available in Singleton Park so I set up there and have been over the last two years. Lockdown really pushed me to adapt," she said.
Before achieving solar power in April this year, Ashley would charge the leisure batteries (a power source for 12V appliances and equipment in motorhomes designed to provide a steady level of power over a prolonged period of time) either at home or using a split charger in her van while driving to an event.
"This was expensive on both accounts, running a diesel van to charge a battery or using high amounts of power on the grid. It also meant that I only had power for a certain amount of time before the battery ran out of charge," she said.
"To solve that problem and not waste energy, especially now with how high energy bills are, I thought let's take the plunge into solar. The first weekend I tried it, it was very successful and I've been using it ever since."
After buying the wiring kits needed to carry the volts from the solar panels to the batteries, Ashley found a professional electrician to install the solar panels.
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"I'm not qualified to do it myself, but I found a car electrician who was able to do it for me and told them what I needed and what I wanted and where. They said they had never seen or installed anything like this before, so it was all new to him," she said. "Then I had everything PAT tested and now it's all running fine. "
Ashley now has solar panels situated next to the van which charge the leisure batteries to power her grinder, fridge, card payment module and other electrical equipment for two to three days.
"The solar panel has to plug into something that's going to hold a charge for you. I use leisure batteries because they're very portable and you can get all sorts of strength for your needs," she said.
The coffee machine is the only piece of equipment not running solely from solar power as the water heating element uses a lot of wattage.
"The amount of power needed to run the heat element is quite high. I'm now trying to figure what larger power source I would need to cover that energy usage," said Ashley, adding that she currently uses LPG, or liquefied petroleum gas, for her coffee machine, which is a lower carbon and efficient fuel.
The total cost of building the set up was around £1000, which includes the electrical kit and wiring, leisure batteries, solar panels themselves and paying an engineer to fit the equipment.
Ashley said: "It's around the same price as a low-end generator, but I get a huge amount of usage out of it and I don't actually have to pay anything to use it. Whereas with a generator you're paying fuel costs, because you're using petrol or diesel to run it."
It also means that Ashley won't be forced to raise her prices to cover rising energy costs.
"It's cheaper for the business overall in the long term and means I don't have to hike my prices up if energy costs go up again. I now don't pay energy costs apart from fuel for travel," she said.
The set-up is also much quieter than using a generator to power her mobile café and Ashley can charge the batteries while she serves her customers.
"I was recently at a campsite in the Gower and had to set up early morning with a half-charged battery. When the sun came up, it fully charged while I was still using the machine in full flow," she said. "As long as it's fully plugged in, everything runs fine. It can last two to three days easily. In the summer I shouldn't have to change the batteries over at all."
What about powering the café in the darker, winter months?
"I've been looking at different types of solar panels, what wattage I can get out of a cloudy day, and what batteries can I upgrade to to hold a higher charge," said Ashley. "Possibly like a household battery that would charge up from solar and then power for whole month or so off very little sunlight. This is my next step of research."