17 December 2020 Product Logistics firm Gist has begun a three-month trial of Ecogen generators to slash emissions of its truck refrigeration units at its site in Spalding, Lincolnshire. The generators plug into existing diesel refrigeration units and convert them to electric power, which is said to allow them to achieve the same environmental classification as the vehicle. “The hybrid-drive system harnesses kinetic energy from the truck and recycles it into electrical energy for the transport refrigeration unit,” said Gist’s head of engineering Mick Pethard.
“By taking power via the rear of the engine into this equipment, which converts this into electricity to power the fridge on electric rather than red diesel – which means no CO2 being created by the fridge.”