DFDS orders first Sunswap trailers

UK: Transportation services company DFDS has ordered the first 10 Sunswap zero-emission Endurance combined solar and battery-powered refrigerated trailers.

The order marks the official commercial launch of Sunswap’s technology into the global cold chain market.

Sunswap Endurance combines battery and solar panels mounted on refrigerated trailers to keep temperature controlled goods cold during transport. This zero-emission system replaces traditional diesel-powered transport refrigeration units.

The order follows trials with the technology conducted by DFDS in 2022. These trials are said to have demonstrated that with 10 Endurance solar and battery TRUs on fleet, DFDS could remove 895 tonnes of CO2 and save around 500,000 litres of diesel fuel over a ten-year unit lifetime, compared with a traditional TRU. The trials also indicated that on one of DFDS’s longer routes, 22 hours of cooling could be provided from one full charge – typically taking 80 minutes – of the TRU battery unit.

Based on findings from the earlier trials, DFDS established that switching to Sunswap Endurance would save 71% of the operating costs compared to running a diesel refrigeration unit. This amounts to a 13% saving in total cost of ownership – making solar and battery electric power a more sustainable and commercially viable option.

Depending on conditions, the trailer-top mounted solar panels can typically provide 65 to 100% of the charge needed to operate the refrigeration unit.

Michael Lowe, CEO of Sunswap hailed the order as “a defining moment” for Sunswap and sustainable transport refrigeration. “After five years of engineering innovation and extensive trials, seeing the first Sunswap units enter full-time service with DFDS marks the beginning of diesel-free cold chain operations at scale.”