Randers, Denmark: DFDS and customer Danish Crown have added three new electric refrigerated trailers to the fleet.
The carbon-neutral trailers “represent a big step forward in making our cold chain operations more sustainable”.
It is a first step on the road to making the transport of our products greener,” Lars Feldskou, group purchasing director, Danish Crown, which supplies pork products, said.
“The technology is still very new, and we want to help test and develop it. With three trailers, both we and DFDS will gain valuable experience, so that we can hopefully over a number of years switch all transport to electric refrigerated trailers, Feldskou said.
The 3.6 metre Krone refrigerated trailers use battery powered Carrier Transicold, E-Drive fridges which converts the kinetic energy generated by the trailer axles into electricity, which is then stored in a battery pack that drives the fridge.
The battery can operate the refrigerated trailer for up to 3.5 hours. The axle generator charges the battery as soon as the speed is over 20 kilometers per hour.
The truck that pulls the refrigerated trailer uses a little more fuel than if the refrigerated trailer has its own diesel generator, but the total consumption is significantly reduced.
Behind the concept is several years of development and in engineering language, it is about using the kinetic energy that arises while driving. How much fuel is saved more precisely under Danish conditions, and how much CO2 emissions are thus reduced, hasyet to be established. This is something that Danish Crown and DFDS have set out to uncover.
“At DFDS, we work with the green transition based on the fact that it is first and foremost about becoming wiser about exactly what creates the best results. By constantly testing new methods and technologies in close and agile partnerships, we believe we are moving forward faster. In collaboration with Danish Crown, we use a well-known technology in a completely new way and see it as an investment in generating knowledge, including how we create the optimal processes and solutions that can benefit many more in the long run,” says Martin Gade Gregersen, who is responsible for refrigerated transport in DFDS.
Although both the battery and the generator add a significant weight, the new trailers are lighter than the current trailers when fully fueled.
At the same time, the new trailers have the great advantage that they make much less noise than diesel-powered refrigerated trailers (approx. 60 dB (A).
“We believe that there are great prospects in the electric refrigerated trailers, and therefore we invest in the project together with DFDS. Transport actually accounts for the second largest load in our supply chain, so therefore electric refrigerated trailers may play an important role in the future,” Feldskou said.
