THE world’s first solar-powered ice cream van – invented and built in West Somerset – will be on display at Somerset County Council’s climate emergency business summit, at Taunton Rugby Club on December 3.

Brainchild of Styles Farmhouse Ice Cream managing director David Baker, the solar and battery-powered van is hailed as an example of how local businesses are responding to climate change by reducing their carbon footprint.

The summit is part of the county council’s plan to work towards making Somerset carbon-neutral by 2030 by involving local firms in clean-air strategies.

The first Styles van fitted with solar panels which charge a bank of batteries, joined the firm’s fleet last August after several years of design and construction.

New technical developments have meant that the Styles van, to be found daily at Whitstones, Porlock Hill, can now serve tea and coffee as well as ice cream.

A spokesman said that, while the van is diesel-powered, “once we arrive on site the engine isn’t turned on until we leave the site and the sun does the rest."

Read the full story in this week’s Free Press (November 1)