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12v coolboxes?

4K views 42 replies 14 participants last post by  WonkoTheSaneUK 
#1 ·
Conversation on another thread about picnics on long journeys to avoid the temptation of spending money on buying food to eat on long journeys during charging breaks got me thinking...

Would a 12v cooling bag like this be a good thing to take on long journeys to fill with water bottles and sandwiches and suchlike? Could plug it into the 12v in the boot of my ID.3 and being soft sided, it could squish down under the false boot floor the rest of the time.

Only thing I'm not sure of is, would running one of them on long journeys eat up much battery range? I appreciate this is probably a noddy question for a generally technically minded bunch like EV owners, but I have no idea what sort of power consumption something like that is likely to have!
 
Discussion starter · #9 ·
Thanks all! If we’re talking in the order of 1 mile every 7 hours then sounds like a no brainier to get it then to me. Even if the one I get is half as efficient as that, 1 mile out of every driving stint would be nothing in the great scheme of things.

I like the idea of a powered one instead of just using ice blocks as it’s more useful on longer trips where I’ll be staying overnight and might not have the opportunity to re-freeze the blocks.

Heated lunchbox looks great too! Not sure I’d get enough use out of that to be worth it for me, but I can certainly imagine a lot of EV drivers finding it useful!
 
Discussion starter · #13 ·
That 1 mile might be the difference getting to your destination. 😆 You know someone was going to say it. Plus if your staying overnight its the perfect opportunity to refreeze. ;) Its if your driving 7 hours to a place, to have some food, then 7 hours back that might be the issue, but you wouldn't be going on a trip like that to bring food back.
Haha... well, would just be nice not to have to faff around with remembering to re-freeze ice blocks in someone’s freezer. The chances of me doing more than 3 or 4 trips like that without me forgetting to repack the ice blocks the next morning is close to zero :ROFLMAO:

Plus, I can see there being value in having it for the 7 hours there, then 7 hours back in the same day use case too. You may know that your charging locations on the way back are unlikely to have places to buy food, so may want to buy something from a shop as you pass it earlier in the journey so you have it to eat on one of the later charge stops.

And if I’m going to be getting down to -1 miles on the GOM, I will have turned the climate control in the car off long before that point which should have a bigger impact on energy use! Haha
 
Discussion starter · #14 ·
(y) If staying overnight in hotels then may be worth looking into ones where you can also power then from 3pin mains — or getting a 3pin to cig socket adapter. I think the key is to make sure it’s as cold as possible before you plug it in inside the car, as - as I understand it - most of them basically reduce the ambient temperature by a set amount, rather than always operating a 5°C or whatever.
Oh yes, good shout! I’ll keep researching what’s available...
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
I have feeling that @loggamatt isn’t about to spend £380 on a cool box to help him avoid the temptation of spending money on buying food during charging breaks.... could be wrong though! :ROFLMAO:

Mobicool FR40 / MCF40 Compressor Cooler
You are not wrong :ROFLMAO: Aim of the game here is to keep a couple of water bottles and sandwiches nicely chilled for guzzling during rapid charging breaks, that’s it.

Reason why electric Vs ice block from freezer is so that it’s always ready to plug in and use on the fly. So, if I’m seeing a friend halfway across the country and we get pizza, I could take a couple of slices for the journey home and put them in the 12v cool bag I always keep in the boot to eat while charging on the journey home. That sort of thing. So, 12v electric wanted... but... cheap 12v electric!
 
Discussion starter · #28 ·
😀😀 welcome to the world of campers and camping 😀😀

A world where people buy fridges that cost as much as a budget home fridge for their tent.

A world where people spend as much on a pair of self inflating mattresses and 3/4 season sleeping bags as they would on a mattress for at home.

A world where lively forums exist to discuss such matters as whether to use car litter and bin bags in a bucket to save night trips to the toilet blocks.

And lets not get onto tents that cost over 4 grand 😆😆
I bought a load of obscenely expensive camping stuff for a one month long motorcycle trip once upon a time.

Ended up camping a total of 3 nights over the whole trip :ROFLMAO:

Turns out hotels are comfier!
 
Discussion starter · #39 ·
Yes, but they won't be cold right away. Chuck a freezer brick in a cool bag and it begins cooling instantly. Turn on a plug in chiller and it takes time to generate some cool air, its all about recirculating the air around that heatsink. Plus when you open the box you lose a lot of the effect quickly. Don't get me wrong though they are good if your trying to keep liquids cool, like cans or bottles. ;) Because those cans/bottles retain a lot of the cold when you open the box so it soon cools again.
Maybe on a long road trip I’ll keep it plugged in the whole time, even if I don’t have anything in it. If it’s only taking a mile or so out of my range every 7 hours I may as well. Then it should be pre-cooled if I do decide to put anything I pick up on the way in it.
 
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