Seen at Solutrans 2023: Thermo King between new electric units and biofuel compliance
Thermo King confirmed at Solutrans 2023 the company's will to advance toward full electrification of its refrigeration units. Dwayne Cowan, President of Thermo King EMEA (below), proudly remarked that the manufacturer achieved the target to have electric options for the whole product portfolio by 2023. It was announced a few years ago, with Thermo King investing over 100 million dollars. Here's what we've seen.
Thermo King confirmed at Solutrans 2023 the company’s will to advance toward full electrification of its refrigeration units. Dwayne Cowan, President of Thermo King EMEA (below), proudly remarked that the manufacturer achieved the target to have electric options for the whole product portfolio by 2023. It was announced a few years ago, with Thermo King investing over 100 million dollars.
At Solutrans 2023, Thermo King launched its new 100% electric powered E-500e unit designed for seamless operations with Electric Light Commercial Vehicles. The refrigeration unit is conceived to lower the impact on the battery and range of the electric vehicle. Depending on the vehicle model, drivers can keep their refrigeration unit running while their battery electric vehicle (BEV) is charging or stationed at a delivery stop. Of course, the E-500e is fully compliant with LEZ, ULEZ and ZEZ emission zones.
Thermo King at Solutrans 2023: Advancer-e, biodiesel and axlepower
Thermo King also put on display the Advancer-e fully electric trailer refrigeration unit, capable to operate with several different power sources including a battery, shore power, AxlePower, or the Frigoblock EnviroDrive (alternator) solution. With its fully electric architecture, one Advancer-e unit can reduce a trailer fleet’s carbon footprint by up to 10 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Mainly talking about the French market, Thermo King announced that its truck and trailer refrigeration units are now compliant with the B100 biodiesel, while the use with HVO was validated back in 2021. Thermo King is currently in the process of certifying all trailer SLXi and Advancer units and selected models in the UT and T-Series portfolio of truck units to work with B100EN 14214 biodiesel. That means making sure that emissions of engines with B100 biodiesel are within the NRMM V requirements. These units, including the Whisper Pro, low noise, PIEK certified models will be available early 2024.
Finally, there’s more about the Axlepower technology developed with BPW, now on the road and available to customers. The system is now available in serial production. Its smart energy generating system delivers the power needed to run the trailer refrigeration unit by converting energy recovered by the trailer’s axle during the vehicle’s routine operation. The Thermo King Energ-e battery pack, being charged while the trailer is moving also powers the unit autonomously while the trailer is stopped.
