GoSun Grill Updates

Inception and Early Success

In the Spring of 2015, GoSun announced a bold, new vision for the future of cooking. The GoSun Grill, a larger and more versatile version of the GoSun Cooking technology, promised to cook a meal for eight using only the Sun and store the Sun’s heat in a phase change (PCM) thermal battery to cook at night. Released on the crowd funding platform Kickstarter, a total of 1,311 people from 42 countries contributed $563,285 in preorders for the product.

GoSun's small team of designers and engineers was delighted by the success and plowed into production details with great optimism in the Fall of 2015.  As we write this update, we recognize that our optimism has taken us for a ride and we are regretful for inaccurate delivery estimates.  We encourage you to stay with us on this revolutionary journey.   

Unexpected Challenges

In the Fall of 2015, continued experimentation of the thermal battery prototypes showed serious shortcomings. While the PCM (phase change material) was originally working, repeat cycling in "real world" environment revealed differences in the PCM supplier’s info.  A number of failed encapsulation experiments forced our design team back to the drawing board to explore other potentials.  In the pursuit of solutions to allow one to cook at night with the Sun, our design team made a bold leap for GoSun: hyper-efficient electric cooking. 

A New Direction

By placing an electrical heating element into the Grill (under the sliding tray) and leveraging the vacuum tube’s near perfect insulation value, we created a solar electric hybrid that can cook using only a fraction of the energy of an electric stove, without sacrificing control or versatility. We call it the eGrill.

Projected for release in 2017, one can plug into the nearest AC outlet or DC Battery charged by solar panels and cook hyper-efficiently anytime; users can fry, roast or make soups drawing little more energy than an 12 volt car port. Plus, with the ability to heat on demand, aspiring solar cooks will have better control of their cooking experience, reaching a wider variety of cooking techniques regardless of the conditions.

Quality Driven Delays

After a very positive public reception to the eGrill’s announcement, the GoSun Team moved forward with production of the Grill in early 2016. Using our first production samples for drop-tests and thermal efficiency testing went smoothly. This momentum was slowed in the Summer 2016, with the arrival of our final product samples. Cooking trays, frame welds, and tube fastening mechanisms were all found to fall short of our quality standards, ultimately leading us to reject a major portion of our production line, at significant cost to our small company.

Delivering in 2016

After three trips overseas, months of communicating fine details to our production engineers, and learning many painful lessons, we are set to deliver the first Grills to our Kickstarter backers in late 2016. Meeting our specifications for quality and performance, and proof from many delicious meals provided, we have reason to believe the final result will be well worth the wait.

The first order of GoSun Grill's are on freight ships in the Pacific, on the way to over 1,000 pre-order customers around the world.  The second production run of Grills is under construction for completion in late winter, early spring 2017.  Please email us at: support@gosunstove.com for more details.