London, UK: Petit Forestier has supplied a customer with 123 new rigids, all using Carrier Transicold’s Syberia multi-temperature fridge.
It is the largest UK order to-date for the engineless fridge technology and will help improve the customer’s fleet
sustainability.
The trucks are 15, 18 and 26-tonne Dafs that will operate on food beverage deliveries to high street coffee shops and a hotel chain. Solomon Commercials provided the bodies with chilled and frozen compartments that incorporate a moving interior spine to allow carriage of cages and pallets.
The Syberia unit is mounted above the cab and has no need for a separate fuel tank, freeing space on the chassis to store and carry waste for recycling.
“We’ve worked closely with Carrier and our customer to ensure every aspect of the build helps them improve the sustainability of the fleet,” said Helder Ribeiro, managing director, Petit Forestier.
“With no need to run an auxiliary diesel engine, we can deliver a significant cut in emissions, without sacrificing performance.”
The vehicles delivering to coffee shops have twin compartments for chilled and frozen food. Those operating on the hotel contract have triple compartments for frozen, chilled and ambient products. All the trucks will operate on high-intensity, multi-drop delivery routes.
The Syberia fridge is powered from the truck’s Euro VI engine, using Carrier Transicold’s Eco-drive power module. The system uses a hydraulic pump connected to the truck engine’s power take-off, driving a generator capable of delivering electrical power to the unit that can provide refrigeration capacity, even at standard idle speed. The 123 vehicles supplied, on a seven-year contract, replace older vehicles.
