Thermo King tests fully electric refrigerated pharma van
2nd February 2021
BELGIUM: Transport refrigeration company Thermo King has announced a collaboration with Mercedes-Benz AG to create a fully electric, refrigerated Mercedes-Benz eSprinter van.
The prototype van will be designed for last mile urban delivery of pharmaceuticals and medicines and feature Thermo King’s all-electric E-200 refrigeration unit and new lithium-ion battery. Combined, the E-200 and the Li-ion battery are designed to deliver independent and constant capacity ensuring an unbroken cold chain even while the driver stops for delivery or break.
The first rounds of testing with the van have already been completed. Over the period of four weeks, the vehicle drove more than 2000km maintaining the temperature of the load compartment between 15ºC and 25ºC.
“The collaboration between Thermo King and Mercedes-Benz AG to develop an all-electric pharma delivery vehicle will enable our customers to benefit from the best combination of distribution and refrigeration technologies,” said Eneko Fernandez, product management leader at Thermo King.
Matthias Brzenczek, industry manager pharma at Mercedes-Benz, said “With the eSprinter Pharma, we want to offer a sustainable, electrically-powered van specifically built to meet the needs of the pharmaceutical industry. From the outset, we wanted to avoid solutions using independent auxiliary battery or passive cooling methods. We want our customers to be able to rely on an active and efficient cooling and heating system in the load compartment.”
