Emmi Schweiz deploys three electric refrigerated trailers
Emmi Schweiz supplies milk, cheese, yoghurt and other chilled goods to retailers, wholesalers and food-service customers across Switzerland. The three trailers are operating on regular distribution routes, where each is expected to cover about 200–400 kilometres a day and run its refrigeration equipment for roughly six to ten hours.
The trailers were supplied by Nivalis Energy Europe and manufactured by Ackermann Fahrzeugbau. Their refrigeration systems draw power from dedicated onboard batteries rather than from a diesel transport refrigeration unit. Because Emmi’s trucks are also fully electric, the arrangement leaves the trucks’ traction batteries available for driving.
For this deployment, each trailer uses Nivalis’s battery-electric refrigeration platform together with seven solar panels mounted on the roof. The equipment includes a Mitsubishi TEU1300SA refrigeration unit. Nivalis said the relatively short urban routes did not require regenerative e-axle technology.
The platform has a modular design that can combine batteries, rooftop solar and regenerative e-axle systems. Emmi is using the trial to collect operational information on reliability, uptime and performance under normal commercial distribution conditions. The company has a large refrigerated trailer fleet, providing routes on which the technology can be assessed in daily food distribution.
Stefan Leyers, Emmi’s head of fleet management, said sustainability had to be compatible with operational performance because customers rely on safe and dependable chilled-product deliveries. He said the trailers had operated reliably since entering commercial service in June and that Emmi was pleased with the results. The company will use the experience and data from the deployment when considering further steps in its longer-term fleet-electrification programme.
Emmi is also increasing its use of fully electric trucks. The company said its longer-term objective was to develop a more sustainable refrigerated transport fleet. Pavel Gilman, Nivalis Energy Europe’s vice-president for sales and project management, said fleets needed flexibility because their operating requirements differed, and described the modular platform as a way to add electric refrigeration without redesigning existing operations.
