Rugby, UK: Hultsteins and Trailar are offering a combined refrigeration system that reduces annual diesel usage, cuts running costs by a “significant margin” and reduces emissions.
“Our hydraulic-drive fridge systems draw a small amount of energy from the truck via an engine-mounted PTO but despite the very small amount of fuel required for this, Hultsteins systems achieve diesel savings of around 80 to 90%, in comparison to a diesel TRU,” says Graham Usher, who handles Hultsteins UK and Irish sales.
The Trailar system feeds solar power into the vehicle to reduce energy use by the engine to run the fridge. This compensates more than the small amount of diesel the fridge requires via the PTO. A typical Trailar system for a rigid vehicle saves around 600 litres a year in the UK, while a Hultsteins fridge requires an average of 250- 300 litres running 1,500 hours per year during road-use, Hultsteins says.
Matthew Summers, head of marketing, Trailar, says there are many other benefits from the solar technology. “As we focus on modernising and improving transport operations through our technology, each of our systems allow customers access to powerful telematic data. Customers will access this data using the Trailar Insights web-platform, where they can see utilisation, live and historic GPS tracking, battery health reporting, tail-lift counts plus fuel and CO2 saving figures.”
Using coud technology, millions of data points are automatically collated and analysed from fleets around the globe. The data is viewable in the web-platform, and can be exported for offline analysis with other data. Another benefit of using cloud technology is that it allows Trailar to provide over-the-air updates to the system, minimising the need for any physical servicing. Battery health reporting is also detailed enough to enable operators to proactively schedule battery replacements, removing unplanned downtime from operations.
“Most carbon-reducing or green technologies aren’t commercially viable for a lot of businesses. The benefit of having a simple solution that pays for itself and more, provides fuel savings without having to manage driver performance, as well as significantly improving battery life, is invaluable. The telematics then goes a step further, giving the operator valuable and actionable information,” Summers says.
