I love iced coffee.

I’m usually not far from my refrigerator, which is very convenient, but there are times when I venture out — perhaps on a day trip or even a long weekend away — and I drag out my old cooler and go buy a bag or two of ice.

The last few years has brought us a new kind of cooler — a portable refrigerator — that uses Lithium-Ion batteries.

I’ve been testing the Anker Solix Everfrost 2 40-liter electric cooler (starting at $699, anker.com) that can keep your drinks, or anything else, cool for a couple days (or more) on a charge. The cooler comes with one battery. You can get extra batteries for $249.

Two sizes

The Everfrost comes in two sizes: 40 liters and 58 liters.

The larger model has two compartments that can be kept at different temperatures. One side can be a refrigerator, and one side can be a freezer.

The 40-liter model I tested has only one compartment, and you get to decide the temperature from 68 degrees down to -4 degrees.

The Everfrost can run from several power sources. It can run on AC power from a wall plug, from a DC power port in your vehicle or from Lithium-Ion batteries. The Everfrost has slots for two 288 watt-hour batteries.

Easy and fast

The Everfrost has an easy-to-use control panel. Turn on the power and press the up and down buttons to set the desired temperature. The Everfrost can drop the temperature from 77 degrees down to 32 degrees in just 15 minutes.

There are three cooling modes.

Max is for maximum cooling power. That’s the mode that can drop the temperature the fastest.

Once you reach your desired temperature, you can switch over to Smart Mode, which auto-balances between cooling and efficiency.

There’s ECO mode, which maximizes the battery efficiency and keeps your food and drinks cold for the longest time between charges.

The Everfrost uses air cooling, similar to a regular refrigerator. The different modes adjust the use of the fan motor to speed up cooling or maximize battery life.

Speaking of battery life, Anker says that with two fully charged batteries you can get up to 3.2 days of cooling.

I was only sent one battery, and in my testing the battery lasted 47 hours in Smart Mode, keeping the compartment at 39 degrees.

The cooler’s batteries have USB-A and USB-C ports, so you can use them to charge up your phone or laptop.

The battery charges when the Everfrost is plugged in. It can also charge from a 100-watt solar panel or from the USB-C port. Recharging the battery from the AC plug or car port or 100W solar panel takes about 3.6 hours. The USB-C port is a bit slower, and using it to recharge the battery will take 5.5 hours.

The Anker Solix Everfrost can run without a battery, but there are cheaper options for just a small AC or DC powered refrigerator.

Specs and design

The 40-liter model measures 29.5 inches by 18 inches by 19.4 inches and it weighs 50.71 pounds. Inside it measures 14.64 inches by 12.31 inches by 13.65 inches.

The Everfrost has two wheels in back and a handle that extends so you can pull it around. The handle doubles as a side table. The wheels are hard plastic, and they roll easily on hard surfaces or grass. The handle is a bit awkward to reach down and grab. You have to stoop down to ground level to reach it.

There are molded handles on both sides so you can lift the Everfrost. I can get it up and into the back of my SUV pretty easily, but it would be easier to lift with two people.

The Everfrost comes with two plastic U-shaped pieces that I could not figure out. After reading the user manual, I identified them as wheel chocks. You put them under the two wheels to keep it from rolling away.

App

The Everfrost can also be controlled and monitored via the Anker app. You can connect via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and once connected, you can see and change the temperature or cooling mode, check the battery level. You can also turn off the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth if you’re not using it to save battery power.

On our trip

We took a weekend trip to a family reunion. The drive took about six hours, and we had the Everfrost on the back seat with the DC power cord reaching to the power port in the center console. The length of the drive made sure the battery was fully charged.

I left it plugged into wall power overnight at the hotel and then unplugged it when we left for the reunion Saturday morning. I purposely let the battery run to see how long it would last. In Smart mode, the one cooler battery lasted for 47 hours with 3% left over.

One battery would be fine for an overnight trip and two batteries would keep things cold for several days or longer.

The Everfrost would be a great addition to your camping gear. If you’re looking for a refrigerator for an RV or camping van or even just a nice electric cooler to take to the weekend soccer tournament, the Everfrost will make you quite happy about never having to buy bagged ice again. It is a bit heavy, but the wheels make it a breeze to pull once you get it on the ground.

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