There she is now. A sarcophagus-sized box for a dog, charcoal grey, with two solid handles. At first glance, the Ecoflow Glacier box is a cool box like many others. Designed to keep food and drinks cold on the go. But the box is actually a revolution, with it changing the rules of the game. Those are bombastic words, after all it’s all about coolers, but they’re still true.
The Glacier Box scores with the fact that it can be operated completely autonomously. So far, no box with active cooling has been able to do this. It is made possible by two innovations: The cool box is equipped with its own battery that drives the compressor. A solar panel can be plugged directly into the refrigerator for power supply, without the need for additional modules. And there’s another killer feature: the Glacier box can make ice cream. In about 15 minutes 18 ice cream scoops are ready.
Mobile cool boxes for campers, sailors and anglers are a dime a dozen. But comparable boxes require an external power source to operate, most accept 230 volt AC and also 12 volt DC. The power can come from a socket, from a camper’s power grid or from a car battery – but without external power, the cooling stops. So far, if you really want to be autonomous, you have to use a passive cool box. It works in much the same way as the parents’ cool bag, except that it’s also available in professional quality – such as the Yeti boxes.
A passive box doesn’t cool anything, it just keeps you cold. For this purpose, it is powerfully insulated, cold cooling elements are placed in the box next to the refrigerated goods and then the box keeps the cold. But not indefinitely long. If it is opened more frequently and it is also supposed to cool down warm drinks, the fresh cold will soon be over. An active box cools more than a kitchen fridge, but it requires electricity to do so. Ecoflow is now the first company to achieve the feat of presenting a fully autonomous cooling box.
We tried the box. The most important question is how long the battery of almost 300 Wh lasts. That’s not an easy question to answer. The endurance depends very much on the situation and the respective use. To assess: We charged the box on the mains and already cooled it and then disconnected it from the mains. A normal refrigerator temperature of about 5 degrees could be kept for 48 hours in a well heated room. This time could be extended further by tricks. For example, if we had filled the refrigerator with cold drinks, or if we had cooled the box more on the mains than on the battery and thus created a “frost reserve”.
Other factors would have reduced the battery life significantly. For example, if you had placed the box in the blazing sunshine, if the cooling room had been opened frequently, or if you wanted to cool down lukewarm drinks as party supplies. And it’s best not to use the ice machine if you want long battery life. Nevertheless, you should be able to easily bridge a party afternoon plus party night on the beach. And even with a small solar panel with an output of 100 watts, the box should be able to run “forever” in summer, including the ice machine.
The power goes into the box with an XT60 connector. You can get an adapter to the common MC4 format from Ecoflow (about 30 euros), it is not included in the scope of delivery of the box. You can also solder the common adapter yourself or buy it from a third party. In addition to a power supply unit, the cooler comes with an adapter for a car connection to the XT60. It can be cooled while driving via the cigarette lighter. The Glacier can be operated with any power box from Ecoflow or another provider via the vehicle plug. However, you can also do this with a box without its own battery.
The Autonomous on the Glacier is convincing. Now for the rest of the cool box. The Glacier holds 35 liters, the cooling compartment is divided into two segments, for which different temperatures can be selected. The system works with a compressor, so it’s not silent, but cools down to minus 18 degrees. There is also a small ice machine. Here water is filled into a compartment – please do not take too little water, then the machine refuses to work. In about 15 minutes, 18 ice balls form around the 18 steel cooling pins. Now the cones are heated briefly, then you can remove the ice balls with a sieve. These are the actual functions that are limited in a cool box. As usual with Ecoflow, the box can be completely controlled via an app.
As is always the case with cool boxes, the relationship between the external dimensions and the usable content is shocking. The dimensions are 38.5 x 45 x 78 cm with handles and feet, without handles the length is 66 cm, the height without feet is 41 cm (all values ????measured, the length of the packaging is sometimes given on the web). That is more than 130 liters of volume compared to 38 liters of usable capacity. The box can be fitted with an undercarriage with casters and stable access, then it can be pulled easily on solid ground. Two people will have to carry it across a beach when the compartment is full and the drinks are added to the 23 kilograms of the box. If the box is to be installed in a boat, hut or camper to save space, you can do without the chassis and the two handles on the front can also be removed. Access to the box is from above. Both compartments fold upwards. The only criticism of the workmanship: The lid for the freezer compartment could snap in more energetically. You can’t really operate the Glacier vertically while standing, as water would then flow out of the ice machine’s basin.
Cooling revolution or not – for whom is such a device in question? In view of the price alone, you can’t buy such a cool box just for fun. The box costs 1199 euros, the battery another 299 euros. All coolers in the 35-liter class are about the same size – really big. It can only be transported by car. There are no cool bags that the children can take to the outdoor pool.
The Glacier should be used more often. So when camping, or if you like to spend your weekends at the barbecue area, organize beach parties or you want to serve cool drinks befitting your status at festivals, be it in Wacken or at the Nürburgring. The same for companies or clubs that need mobile cooling. For special cases, the ability to freeze may also be interesting. It is particularly practical when several applications come together that can only be operated with a mobile box – beach parties and fishing hobbies, for example. For occasional users, a bag with cooling elements or a simple cooler bag with a battery and no more chichi will do. If you put 25,000 euros into the expansion of a camper, boat or tiny house, the expenses for the high-end cool box are not particularly noticeable.
Compared to a conventional cool box, we would definitely prefer an autonomous one with a battery and direct solar feed. To estimate the additional price: A Dometic CFX3 35 with a similar volume and without ice maker, battery and solar costs 800 euros. Its dimensions are also not noticeably modest (69.4 x 40.7 x 39.8 centimeters). With the Glacier, Ecoflow is the first company to start with such a device, but competitors are already following suit.
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