Coca-Cola equips soda vending machines with autonomous hydrogen power source

It is generally accepted that hydrogen as a potential source of electricity is useful in heavy engineering, aviation, rail and water transport. However, Coca-Cola has prepared 58 vending machines for the Osaka World Expo that are powered by electricity generated from hydrogen in fuel cells.

Image source: Coca-Cola

The idea of ​​the carbonated drinks manufacturer is apparently to demonstrate the ability of such vending machines to operate without being connected to the power grid, but instead of batteries, which would be more logical for such equipment, a hydrogen power plant has been chosen. Apparently, due to its outlandishness, it allows to attract more attention to the products of Coca-Cola itself.

Next month, the 2025 World Expo opens in Osaka, Japan, and Coca-Cola will install 58 carbonated beverage vending machines in the pavilions of the exhibition center that operate without being connected to the power grid and get the energy they need from hydrogen. A separate housing next to each machine houses hydrogen cylinders, and there is also an auxiliary display that demonstrates how the energy plant works.

It is not specified how long one machine can operate without replacing hydrogen cylinders. Perhaps they allow for longer battery life compared to heavier batteries. Incidentally, the device still needs batteries for intermediate storage of electricity. At the same time, such a replacement is hardly economically feasible given the existing methods of hydrogen extraction and storage. Fuji Electric helped develop the power plant for the vending machines.