Castle Donington, UK: Moran Logistics is fitting Hultsteins’ Ecogen units to its gas-powered trucks dedicated to a customer contract.
Moran has two compressed netural gas-powered Scania tractors to transport chilled produce from a national distribution centre to stores.
Last year Moran began to investigate more efficient refrigerations system to improve sustainability.
“We have a very clear plan to achieve our net zero goals and had the opportunity to work with one of our key customers to support this,” says Lee Graham, managing director, Moran Logistics.
“With diesel prices going up and refrigerated trailers moving from red to white diesel, we were looking at whether a low-carbon piece of equipment could power the fridges on the trailers while they were running, so that we would reduce our carbon footprint and become less reliant on diesel.”
The company settled on Hultsteins’ Ecogen system, which can be retrofitted to any tractor unit with an engine power take-off and converts existing diesel fridges to run on electricity via the standby five-pin plug.
The Ecogen system is a cost-effective method for operators to adopt cleaner refrigeration systems, because there is no requirement to replace existing trailers or fridges, Hulsteins says.
Moran Logistics took two Ecogen units in summer 2021, and Graham believes they are particularly useful for operators with trucks that spend a lot of time on the road.
“The Ecogen units power the fridge while the truck is running, and our vehicles typically do ten-hour days with around three delivery stops. If that vehicle is on the road for, say, eight or nine hours, then that’s where we’re seeing the savings, because they’re drawing electric power around 80% of the time. In terms of cost and carbon emissions from the fridges, that’s 80% better than before,” Graham said.
He cites ease of use as an advantage. “They’re easy to use, because they just plug straight in to a three-phase plug on the trailer, so it’s business as usual for the drivers.”
Moran Logistics will continue to expand its line-up of gas-powered trucks and is looking into further clean power initiatives, such as fitting solar panels to the top of its trailers.
“We’re constantly looking at how can achieve our sustainability aims as well as operating more efficiently” says Lee, “it’s the right thing to do, it makes financial sense and further strengthens our partnership with our customer.”
