Thermo King truck hybrid refrigeration units hit the road

Greggs is one of the first customers in Europe to experience the benefits of the new hybrid refrigeration systems. Three new trucks with Thermo King Hybrid systems will contribute to lowering the environmental impact and reducing operating costs of their truck transport operations in central London.

“Thermo King units have been our systems of choice for several years now. Their units have delivered good flexibility and work efficiency to our operations, and we could also always count on the Thermo King dealer service network to support us,” said Richard Penna, group logistics manager at Greggs.

“We’re very conscious about the sustainability of our transport operations. It is paramount for us to operate in inner cities with as little noise and emissions as possible. It was a natural choice to work with Thermo King and equip our trucks with these new units that can easily switch from diesel operation to electric, reduce the sound level and eliminate emissions. On top of that we expect to benefit from the lower daily fuel consumption.”

Colm O’Grady Product Manager at Thermo King said: “Thermo King Hybrid technology was designed to help transport and delivery companies future-proof their refrigerated operations and investments. With this solution they can stay ahead of regulations, control their total cost of ownership and achieve important sustainability goals.

“Thermo King was the first to offer its European customers a trailer hybrid refrigeration. Now, our truck transport customers can also benefit from this cleaner and electrified transport refrigeration to make urban distribution more flexible and sustainable.”

The new hybrid single - and multi-temperature solution for trucks feature Frigoblock alternator and inverter-drive technology. The nose-mount T-Series Hybrid and under-mount UT-Series Hybrid refrigeration automatically switches between electric and diesel operation as required or necessary. This enables the transport companies to operate in inner cities, residential areas and low emission zones with the refrigeration unit’s diesel engine turned off.

The system is also very well accepted by drivers, mainly due to the simple and smooth transition from one drive technology to the other. The driver only needs to set the vehicle when leaving the depot and the system will switch electric and diesel modes seamlessly during the working day depending on the unit’s requirements.