World News

Industry news and insights from Europe and around the World

UK News

Latest news and developments in the United Kingdom

Products

Keep up-to-date with the latest new products and technology

Features

General articles, applications and industry analysis

Sainsbury’s first to adopt electric refrigerated trailers

UK: Sainsbury’s has become the first UK retailer to introduce fully electric refrigerated trailers to its delivery fleet with five new trailers employing Carrier Transicold’s new Vector eCool units.

These fully autonomous, all-electric engineless refrigerated trailer systems optimise energy efficiency, converting the kinetic energy into electricity to extend battery life.

The Vector eCool combines Carrier Transicold’s E-Drive all-electric technology with a new energy recovery and storage system. This converts kinetic energy generated by the trailer into electricity, which is then stored in a battery pack to power the refrigeration unit. This loop creates a fully autonomous system that produces no direct CO2 or particulate emissions.

When the refrigeration unit is operating on battery power, Carrier Transicold’s energy management system automatically switches on when the charge reaches a certain level and conditions, initiating the generator to recharge the battery to ensure full refrigeration capacity.

The eCool system can also be plugged into the electrical grid when the trailer is parked and will fully charge in under four hours, says Carrier. On the road, the battery pack is recharged using power generated by the axles and the kinetic energy created under braking.

Patrick Dunne, Sainsbury’s director of property, procurement and cost transformation, said: “Following a successful trial earlier this year, we are pleased to introduce this pioneering technology as part of our delivery fleet. As we look to the future we will continue to invest in testing and trialling to make our fleet more efficient and greener, creating energy at the same time.”

“We will continue to introduce fully electric refrigerated trailers to the delivery fleet over the next 20 years based on Sainsbury’s and Argos’s energy infrastructure, helping us to plan for a better future.”

Latest News

19th March 2024

Nibe announces 340 heat pump redundancies

SWEDEN: Nibe has given notice of redundancy to 340 employees in Sweden as a result of weaker demand in the European heat pump market.
18th March 2024

Joint venture adopts Epta brand

ITALY: All activities under the recently announced Epta and Viessmann Refrigeration joint venture are to operate under the Epta brand.
18th March 2024

Low carbon heat briefing

UK: The SIRACH network is hosting a half-day briefing at London’s iconic Shard to share the findings of the Lot-Net project. 
18th March 2024

UK heat pump uptake too slow

UK: The UK must achieve an eleven-fold increase in heat pump installations if it is to hit government targets of 600,000 heat pumps installed per year by 2028.
18th March 2024

Refrigeration’s star engineer Forbes Pearson dies

UK: Stephen Forbes Pearson, co-founder of Star Refrigeration and one of the world's greatest refrigeration engineers, has died at the age of 92.
17th March 2024

132 Güntner dry coolers for Red Sea project

SAUDI ARABIA: German manufacturer Güntner has supplied 132 dry coolers, each with 18 fans, to a 32,500TR district cooling project in Saudi Arabia.