The world’s fastest electric ice cream van

The world's fastest electric ice cream van has scooped a Guinness World Record title by clocking up speeds of 73.921 mph. The record was broken by Edd China, a British inventor and TV presenter from Surrey, who doesn’t sell ice-cream for a living, but is on a mission to decrease carbon emissions.

Although this is Edd’s seventh Guinness World Record title centred around speedy motorised vehicles, the project was never about just breaking records; it had an environmental importance. After Edd discovered that ice cream vans were being banned in some London boroughs because of their harmful emissions, he decided to create a special engine conversion kit for ice cream vans so that they can run on electricity rather than diesel.  He hopes to roll this out globally, future proofing ice cream vans as a key part of a British summer.

The van originally ran on a Mercedes Sprinter diesel engine. After two years of modifications the record was broken at Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire with a speed which would have warranted a speeding ticket on a motorway.

The inventor said: “Perhaps the most important thing that’s come out of this project is I’ve actually developed a kit that will convert any diesel ice cream van to run with its ice creaming machine working off electricity. Which means no more diesel fumes ever again with your ice cream. That’s got to be a winner.”

What’s next for the inventor? He has his sights set on breaking the record for the fastest motorized shopping trolley currently held at 70.4 mph and to make it street legal.

Other notable records involving automobiles include:

The longest journey by a coffee-powered car           

In 2010, a Volkswagon Scirocco was driven 337 km from London to Manchester powered by coffee. The modified car works by heating coffee granules in a charcoal fire, which break down into carbon monoxide and hydrogen. ‘Car-puccino’ can reportedly reach 60 mph and achieved 1 mile per 56 espressos. The process works because coffee granules contain a small amount of carbon.

The fastest police car in service

To help them keep up with rich businessmen in their speeding sports cars, police in Dubai decided to invest in one of the most powerful production cars on the planet: a Bugatti Veyron. With a blistering top speed of 253 mph and a US$1.6 million price tag, the Dubai police parked the Veyron alongside a Lamborghini Aventador that they already owned. The Veyron, however, was renowned in 2016 as the second fastest street-legal car in the world, only pipped by the 301 mph Hennessey Venom GT.