US-based temperature control system manufacturer, Thermo King, has partnered with energy solutions firm, Chanje, to create a refrigerated version of the V8100 all-electric last-mile delivery van.
The vehicle is fitted with a Thermo King V-520 RT refrigeration unit and ThermoLite solar panels.
Thermo King General Manager – Transport Solutions for North America, Dane Taival, told a US source that its work with Chanje is a strategic partnership to innovate products to deliver the right solutions at the right time for its global customer base.
Chanje Director of Marketing, Ian Televik, explained that the global refrigerated vehicle market is expected to reach $16.5 billion (approx. €14.7 billion) by 2022.
“In the US, we are seeing increasing demand for medium duty, last mile refrigerated solutions due to a steady increase in customers doing their shopping online and expecting fast home deliveries,” he said.
November last year, US commercial fleet management company, Ryder, ordered 1,000 medium-duty electric panel vans from Chanje.
Chanje is a private US corporation with technology and investment from its co-founding partner, Hong Kong based, FDG Electric Vehicles Limited (FDG). It partnered with FDG to leverage its battery and electric vehicle technology and economies of scale to convert large North American commercial fleets to zero-emission as efficiently as possible.