Power for a food truck

Start with a list of every appliance in the truck and what each one draws. The total at your busiest moment decides what you need.

Making the list

1. Write down every appliance and read its watts off the sticker.
2. Estimate how many hours each one runs during a full day of service.
3. Mark the motors: fridge, freezer, pumps and fans.
4. Type it all into the sizing tool.

An example with round numbers

These numbers are made up to show the arithmetic. A 1,000 W item running 4 hours uses 4,000 Wh. A 500 W item running 8 hours also uses 4,000 Wh. Together that's 8,000 Wh, before conversion losses. The biggest station we've checked stores 3,600 Wh, so a load like this would be more than any single one holds.

Station capacities are on the comparison page.

What we haven't done yet

• Pulled typical watts for food-truck appliances from maker manuals, so none are listed here.
• Looked up local health and fire rules for batteries in a truck.