West Horsley Dairy goes green with refrigeration tech
By Retail Technology | Thursday September 11 2014
Surrey's West Horsley Dairy has hit the road with an environmentally-friendly refrigerated truck
Family-owned West Horsley Dairy is now making deliveries using the FUSO Canter Eco Hybrid with a diesel-electric drivetrain that offers fuel savings and low CO2 emissions compared to diesel-engined vehicles.
Instead of a traditional air blown fridge, its insulated body is chilled by a highly reliable eutectic system that does not require a power source while deliveries are being made, so produces no carbon or noise pollution.
Seamless switching
The 7.5-tonne chassis was supplied by local dealer Rossetts Commercials. The model's 110 kW (150 hp) diesel engine works in parallel with a slimline, 40 kW (54 hp) electric motor.
Having set off using electric power alone, the vehicle switches to a combination of diesel and electric operation once a speed of around 6 mph (10 km/h) has been reached. Depending on the power demand, the electric motor also supports the diesel at higher speeds. Switches between modes are seamless and require no input from the driver.
The vehicle's insulated body was built by Jackson Coachworks, of Loughborough, and features its 'eistechnik' eutectic refrigeration system. Eutectic refrigeration is based on the principle of latent heat – a special gel is frozen down to the required temperature at the depot overnight, then, while deliveries are made the following day, gives out energy as it thaws in the form of cold air, thus refrigerating the area around it.
Making London deliveries efficient
The truck will be maintained at Rossetts Commercials' Aldershot workshop, while the Dealer's handover specialist Terry Crowhurst has delivered one-to-one training for main driver Lukask Korkuc and some of his colleagues.
"Given the short distance, stop-start nature of the work and the traffic congestion in London, it's never going to be the most fuel-efficient of delivery routes," explained Catherine Colton, director at West Horsley Dairy. "The Canter is running on partial electric power for much of the time it's in the City, so it's here that the real benefits are to be found.
“Recognition from Transport for London, in the form of a reduction in the daily £10 Congestion Charge we pay as a fleet operator, to reflect the commitment to the environment that we've demonstrated, would be very much appreciated."
