Trane Technologies’ brand Thermo King announced Monday it will invest more than $100 million over the next three years to deliver a fully electric product in every segment of the cold chain by 2023.
The company’s all-electric portfolio, branded evolve, will include electric refrigeration solutions for truck, trailer, rail, air and marine transport in the North America, Latin America and Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) regions. Thermo King says the evolve portfolio aligns with customers’ goals to transition to more sustainable solutions for their fleets, and will help advance Trane Technologies’ 2030 Sustainability Commitments, including its Gigaton Challenge to reduce customer greenhouse gas emissions by 1 billion metric tons.
As new products are added to the evolve portfolio, electric solutions will be available in every cold chain segment in EMEA by 2023, and in the Americas by 2025.
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“Bold solutions for a more sustainable world are core to our strategy. We continue to innovate to help reduce the carbon footprint of customer operations,” says Paul Camuti, chief technology and sustainability officer, Trane Technologies. “The evolve portfolio builds on our ongoing efforts to help customers reduce environmental impact and meet their sustainability goals as they transition fleets and stay ahead of future regulation.”
The global leader in temperature control solutions already offers fully electric products such as the E-200 for middle and last-mile delivery, and the TE-18 and Athenia all-electric HVAC units for public bus transit. Successfully launched in EMEA in 2020, Thermo King says the Advancer trailer unit is 30 percent more fuel efficient and can operate on a variety of power sources such as shore power, hybrid, holdover battery and axle generator. In the Americas region, the enhanced electric architecture on the connected Precedent trailer unit leverages shore power and will undergo field trials with customers later this year. These innovations will pave the way for all-electric zero-emission trailer refrigeration units in both regions, the company says.
“Our expertise in electrification has positioned Thermo King as a trusted partner to respected industry leaders such as Isuzu, Tesco, Mercedes-Benz and technology companies such as ELMS, Gatik and BPW who continue to find new ways to innovate the cold chain,” says Karin De Bondt, president, Thermo King Americas. “Through these strategic partnerships we are able to further our advancements of sustainable power solutions and electrified product offerings that meet customer, regulatory and environmental requirements in our industry and our world.”
Providing electric solutions for buildings, homes and refrigerated transportation is part of Trane Technologies’ overall approach to reducing carbon emissions in the industries it serves, meeting its Gigaton Challenge for a more sustainable future, and supporting net-zero cities, the company says.
