Thermo King launches Li-ion Battery for Refrigerated Transport

Thermo King has launched its new lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery for refrigerated transport. The battery pack is designed specifically for the E-200 fully-electric refrigeration units. Combined with the E-200 units, the battery pack creates a zero emissions transport refrigeration solution that ensures an unbroken cold chain even while the driver stops for delivery, break or needs to turn off the vehicle for longer.

“Product innovation, sustainability, reliability, increased uptime, total cost of ownership, optimal efficiency and customer expectations have always been the concepts that drive us,” said Eneko Fernandez, product management leader at Thermo King. “Electrification is a trend that’s set to continue with the refinement of units that don’t use a diesel engine to drive the compressor, and instead use a battery-based system. At Thermo King, we want to challenge what is possible in our industry, and today we are taking a step forward. We developed our own Li-ion battery pack for refrigerated transport to fully integrate it with the unit’s system and allow our customers to maximise the benefits of its smart and sustainable power management.”

The Thermo King battery pack was designed to seamlessly work with the E-200 fully electric, zero-emissions refrigeration units for medium sized vans and trucks – the latest addition to Thermo King’s growing portfolio of non-diesel solutions. Unlike typical small truck solutions designed for diesel combustion engines, the E-200 delivers constant capacity in up to two cooling zones, independently from the vehicles’ engines, and can work with both electric and engine-powered vehicles. The Thermo King battery works with the E-200 units’ patented power management, which contributes to lower energy consumption, increased vehicle autonomy and higher efficiency and reliability.

The battery combined with the E-200 unit ensures the hold-over capacity, an environmentally sustainable way to power the unit during stops for deliveries or breaks. This is particularly important during home delivery and other city distribution operations, with frequent deliveries and door openings, short driving distances and repeated stops in traffic. It gives the fleet managers the peace of mind that the transported goods are cooled at all times and there are no temperature deviations in the compartment. The solution is also compatible with vehicle’s start-stop features contributing to additional fuel savings.