Adding solar panels to semi trailers is an idea so obvious it hurts

Refrigerated trailers are critical for hauling your fresh food and flowers from the farm to your local market – the problem is that they pollute like crazy, powered by red-dye diesel gensets that run around the clock, even when the truck pulling them is fully electric. To help solve that problem, one company come up with an idea so obvious you’ll hate yourself for not coming up with it on your own: rooftop solar.

Refrigerated trailers (reefers) are critical for hauling fresh food and flowers from the farm to your local market — the problem is that they pollute like crazy, powered by red-dye diesel gensets that run around the clock, even if the truck pulling them is fully electric. That constant diesel burn spews CO₂ and NOx into industrial and residential areas alike, and contributes significantly to fleets’ carbon emissions and noise pollution at a time when a number of municipalities are moving to regulate both, regardless of what the Annoying Orange-in-Chief wants.

It is, as they say, “a real problem,” but Sunswap Endurance thinks they’ve cracked it with a solar-powered reefer that Protran claims will keep food cold in transit without burning a drop of diesel fuel.

The idea is insultingly simple. Sunswap adds PV panels to the top of a semi trailer, which continuously charge onboard batteries that power a highly efficient electric reefer unit developed by Protran Solutions. When the truck is stopped, loading, or parked for the night, the batteries can also be topped up from grid power.

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It does the thing

This thing isn’t just a concept, either. To prove that it will work as promised, Protran and Sunswap Endurance put their trailer to the ultimate test: a grueling 1,600 km long (~1,000 miles) Australian adventure hauling foods from Brisbane to Sydney and back, in extreme heat, making all the stops, and completed the tour in the same three days the diesel boys get.

The result was zero diesel burned, zero emissions, and zero noise. Just pure, clean, Aussie sunshine keeping milk, meat, and vegetables fresh all the way to the store.

“Australian sunshine has always been a challenge for diesel refrigeration — the harder it beats down, the harder those units work, and the more fuel they burn,” explains Grant Turner, General Manager of Protran Solutions. “The Sunswap Endurance flips that equation entirely. More sun means more power, exactly when you need it most.”

The Sunswap system dramatically simplifies the electric reefer equation compared to some of the electric units currently being sold. Those depend on e-axles, regenerative braking, and ePTOs to keep the units running. All that tech adds weight, which means less cargo hauled, which means less money – and that math doesn’t math.

But solar? The cost of PV and batteries has come down dramatically in recent years, and that means this math maths up just fine.

“Australia’s sunshine is perfect for this technology,” says Michael Lowe, CEO of Sunswap. “It’s the same world-class [reefer] unit delivering groceries across the UK, Europe, and South America, and now, Australian operators will have the opportunity to partner with Protran Solutions to see the benefits Sunswap Endurance will provide to their fleets which will include zero emissions from day one … we’re proud that Protran Solutions is partnering with Sunswap to distribute the Endurance model to the Australian market.”

Sunswap Endurance will be showing off their new solar reefer unit at HVIA’s upcoming TruckShowX in Hunter Valley this May – and I hope they sell a ton of ’em.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Sunswap Endurance, via HVIA.

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