Thermo King Premieres the E-Series, New Fully Electric Refrigeration Units Designed for Battery Electric Vehicles

The completely new design of the E-Series answers the need for zero-emission refrigeration customised for electric light commercial vehicles (LCV)

Thermo King®, a leader in transport temperature control solutions and a brand of Trane Technologies, unveiled today the new fully electric E-Series refrigeration units for electric light commercial vehicles (LCV). The new E-Series were designed from the ground up specifically for battery-powered electric vehicles between 3.5 and 7.5 tonnes. The E-Series premieres at the IAA Transportation 2022 show in Hannover, Germany and is showcased in collaboration with IVECO, fitted on their new zero-emission IVECO eDaily.

“With the new E-Series, when going back to the drawing board, we kept our customers’ and the environment’s needs at the heart of the unit’s design,” said Graham Wells, vehicle-powered truck product manager for Thermo King in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). “Battery autonomy, battery lifecycle, and intelligent power management between the refrigeration unit and the battery-electric vehicle are some of the central elements behind the design of the E-Series to achieve the highest efficiency possible. Subsequently, the new E-Series will have the least impact on the vehicle’s range and provide our customers with increased value while contributing to a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).”

“We are proud to launch our ground-breaking eDAILY at IAA Transportation” says Vittorio Bussi, head of IVECO Commercial Vehicle Product Management. “It is the culmination of IVECO’s experience in electric propulsion technology and incorporated real-mission feedback from our customers. It preserves the legendary robustness, reliability, performance and versatility of our iconic Daily. Furthermore, it has been designed leveraging our partnership with bodybuilders, which made it the first electric LCV adaptable to a wide range of conversions and applications, enabled by its trademark flexible chassis. The fully modular battery set make it the perfect companion for all missions. And there’s more: the new eDAILY introduces ePTOs up to 15 kW, which deliver energy also when the e-motor is switched off; a game changer ideal for applications such as refrigerated transport. IVECO and Thermo King have fulfilled customer needs in every mission with this exceptional new range.”

The new E-Series units are connected and powered directly by the vehicle’s battery. To deliver optimal temperature-control performance with reduced energy consumption, the new E-Series features patented, custom-designed inverter technology and a powerful variable-speed hermetic refrigeration compressor. The patented control and power management system, intelligently optimizes supply and demand of power in real time, minimising the impact on the vehicle’s battery when the vehicle is on route or off on a delivery.

The completely new design and architecture of the E-Series offers LCV operators the benefits of advanced electric vehicle drive technology with performance previously unattainable in units of this type. The E-Series will be available for both single and multi-temperature transport with both cooling and heating modes to fit customers’ multiple application needs.

The profile design of the new E-Series makes it versatile and easy to install on panel vans, chassis cab trucks and other types of vehicle conversions. The compact design of the unit delivers extremely high performance with half the weight of an equivalent legacy unit. Lower weight means a reduced impact on the battery-electric vehicle’s range and maximizes the vehicle’s payload, increasing operational flexibility and bottom line.

Providing electric solutions for refrigerated transportation is part of Thermo King’s and Trane Technologies’ overall approach to reducing carbon emissions. It aligns with the company’s bold 2030 Sustainability Commitments, including the Gigaton Challenge to reduce customer greenhouse gas emissions by 1 billion metric tons.