Culina and Co charged up by placing huge Scania order

Scania UK has completed a deal with Consortium Purchasing group to deliver 100 battery-electric trucks over the next 12 months.

for the industry, those BEV 4x2 tractor units will be split across Consortium’s members: Culina Group, WS Group, A.W. Jenkinson Group and its subsidiaries, becoming among the first Scania EV tractors to enter service in the UK.

In what has been coined as a one of Scania’s largest BEV orders to be fulfilled in one calendar year, Christian Levin, Chief Executive Officer for Scania AB, said this deal is a significant milestone in the two organisations’ history, and shows the intent to move towards more sustainable transport solutions, adding: “Scania has had a close and successful relationship with Culina Group, WS Group and A.W. Jenkinson Group for many years.”

These 100 battery electric trucks are Scania’s regional-haul 4x2 tractor units, officially launched in June 2022, with customers originally expected to start taking first deliveries in Q1 2024. They are powered by a triple electric machine powertrain, producing approximately 560hp, and are equipped with an electric power take-off system to support temperature controlled or bulk transportation.

They are also the first Scanias to come fitted with the Northvolt battery cells giving 468 kWh of usable capacity, which yields a range of up to 350km.

Christian says: “This vehicle represents a major milestone for us and for our partners. “We’ve increased our range and are offering new opportunities to cater for a wider selection of customers and the whole transport ecosystem. These trucks are part of the solution that the transport industry is asking for.”

Alongside these trucks, Consortium Purchasing is purchasing another 2,400 vehicles, including 2,250 diesel trucks powered by Scania’s latest generation and efficient 13-litre SUPER powertrain. The other 150 are earmarked to support the Consortium’s German and Dutch operations.

William Stobart, Deputy CEO of Culina Group, was delighted by the deal, stating the group of companies were pleased to renew their agreement and relationship with Scania.

“It’s been a difficult time for all the OEMs with global supply issues,” he adds. “But Scania has worked closely with us over the past two years to minimise the impact for both parties. This is testament to the true partnership between the businesses.”

Chris Newitt, Managing Director for Scania UK, concurred adding this was the perfect opportunity to cement the ongoing relationship between the two companies during a period of such transition.

“It’s testament to the strength between the two organisations that we can make this announcement,” Chris adds. “But also, to those involved in making it possible over the many years that this deal is built upon.”

This has been confirmed as one of Scanias largest European and battery-electric vehicle orders to be completed over one calendar year by Scania.

The vehicles will be delivered to the group in batches of at least 500 per quarter.

Thermo King EMEA enhances its “digital chassis” to bring digitally enhanced capabilities to upcoming cooling units

By Wouter Roels, Business Development Leader, Thermo King

Digital transformation is on a scale like we’ve never seen before, and real-time connectivity is one of the key ingredients fueling it. No industry will be left untouched, including the temperature-controlled transport industry.

Thermo King is leading the way in a transformation that is changing the industry and the way its customers conduct business. Here are some insights on how Thermo King is working together to make it happen.

Key Points

• Digitalization is a key strategic initiative for Thermo King.

• The digital chassis is a key accelerator for the transition to full electric, emission-free cooling units.

• Customers will be able to show lower emissions and contribute to a reduction in food loss.

Digital Chassis

It is clear that digital solutions are becoming table-stakes in global cold chain logistics as customers demand greater visibility. As one of the three critical strategic initiatives for Thermo King, digitalization enables electrification, data-driven service offerings, and product innovation. It focuses on enhancing the cooling unit value through digital functionalities and services.

Thermo King is building a digital chassis which enables customers to remotely monitor and operate their cooling unit through a digital cockpit called TracKing. An “always on” digitally connected unit also allows Thermo King to offer over-the-air (software) updates, and puts its products on a path toward autonomous, driverless operations.

This digital chassis is also a key accelerator for the transition to lower emission and full electric cooling units. Today Thermo King is already working to have the digital chassis fully integrated into two new products: the Advancer Axle Power solution and the upgraded T-Series Whisper PIEK-compliant truck refrigeration unit. Both units require connectivity for customers to take full advantage of the functionalities.

Advancer Axle Power

The Advancer AxlePower solution allows for fully electric operation of the refrigeration unit and comes with telematics as standard. Thermo King customers will use telematics to monitor energy consumption, battery charge, and in an advanced stage manage traffic and route planning. From a central location a fleet operator can optimize the unit and axle generator settings and intervene remotely to optimize energy consumption and protect the cargo load. Customers and Thermo King dealers will be able to use connectivity for trouble shooting and service intervention. Users can receive and customize low battery level notifications, battery alarm notifications as well as service interval messages.

Having digital solutions integrated to refrigeration products is not a nice to have any more, it’s a must have.

“As we move to different energy systems like AxlePower (axle generator solution) or Energ-e Pack (battery only solution) having live data and two-way control will be key for our customers.” says Colm O’Grady, Trailer Portfolio leader for Thermo King EMEA. “Integration of the data into one location and system for our customers is also important to provide the most efficient solution. These solutions allow Thermo King to provide real value to our customers operations.”

And when it comes to electric units, customers want to make sure the unit has sufficient range to deliver the goods on time, at the right quality.

“We’ve designed an interface which allows customers to monitor battery performance and remotely intervene if required, for example changing remotely the axle power mode. Our driver-friendly mobile app has been designed to show all parameters important to the driver, such as battery autonomy or time to full charge,” says Raluca Radu, Connected Solutions Trailer Portfolio leader for Thermo King EMEA.

Truck Whisper PIEK

The T-1200R Whisper is the first truck unit that comes with telematics as standard. The unit is designed in such a way that the BlueBox telematics unit automatically switches the unit into low-speed engine mode when entering a Low Emission Zone (LEZ). Thermo King software engineers also developed an application that allows the installing dealer to flash load all geofences around PIEK zones and LEZ zones onto the controller during configuration. The configuration even goes as far as adding timeframes during which the unit must or must not respect the LEZ noise emission regulations.

“By automating the activation and deactivation of noise reduction on our units we take the responsibility out of the drivers’ hands and ensure regulations are met when entering a low emission zone,” says Mike McEnnis, Connected Solutions Truck Portfolio Leader for Thermo King EMEA.

Advanced Technology

Every time new technology is introduced on the unit, the Thermo King Connected Solutions Technology team must define the best way to give customers access to unit operations data (e.g., set point, return air temperature) and define the most convenient way to send commands to the unit remotely.

In the case of the AxlePower solution, the team had to identify what data to collect from the unit and battery and design the best user interface on Thermo King TracKing to display battery and axle performance data.

“We had to look not just at the unit statistics at a moment in time but also present the past performance of the unit so the customer could have some measure of confidence of how the unit would be performing in the near future,” says Inna Sergheeva, CS UI/UX expert for Thermo King EMEA.

In the case of T-1200R Whisper, the requirement was to cause the unit to go into low speed when it entered a PIEK zone, identified by GPS coordinates. We have chosen to utilize the power of the telematics units and build logic into it. This means it will recognize when the unit is in a PIEK zone and automatically change it to low speed. Likewise, when it leaves the zone, the unit will return to normal operation. This approach offers greater accuracy and efficiency to our customers.”

“The implementation of this feature really leveraged the power of our telematics unit and allowed us to offer the customer the type of solution that really helped their business,” says Joe Walsh, Firmware manager for Thermo King EMEA.

It’s all about enhancing value of the unit for customers.

Thermo King’s objective is to use connectivity technology to enhance the value of the cooling machine. Connectivity allows the driver and fleet operator to take more control over the functioning of the unit, and with that maximize the benefits of the Thermo King unit. Customers will experience better fuel savings and therefore fewer carbon dioxide emissions, better cargo protection and therefore less food waste. They will avoid penalties for not respecting PIEK or LEZ emission and noise regulations and make the unit less dependent on the driver because of new automation and 2-way command functionalities.

POWERED BY THE ROAD

Reclaim your energy.

Thermo King’s AxlePower is an energy recovery system to power your refrigeration unit with sustainable energy. The system captures and stores the energy generated by your tractor’s normal operations, giving you a reserve of power to electrically run your cooling unit.

Designed by Thermo King in partnership with BPW, AxlePower is a flexible and sustainable solution for a greener future – and a lower fuel bill.