Tesco operates more than 3,500 stores in the UK and employs more than 310,000 members of staff. Its commercial fleet consists of 450 rigids, 1,300 tractor units and 4,000 trailers.
Each vehicle in the fleet is in use up to seven days per week, transporting chilled, ambient and frozen produce to its out-of-town locations, as well as its urban Tesco Express and Tesco Metro stores across the UK.
In an effort to reduce its impact on the environment, Tesco approached Carrier Transicold to provide an alternative refrigeration technology for two trial vehicles – the first of their kind within the fleet.
Carrier Transicold recommended the Syberia multi-temperature nose-mount system – an engineless unit that runs entirely on hydro-electric power generated by the truck's ultra-clean Euro VI engines.
The system is powered by Carrier Transicold's Eco-Drive GenSet power unit, which is driven by a hydraulic pump connected to the truck's engine power take-off, removing the need for a separate diesel engine.
The hydraulic pump drives a generator that delivers electrical power to the refrigeration unit and provides a continual 100 per cent capacity even at the truck's standard idle speed.
The results
"Syberia systems offer huge potential to help us reduce our carbon footprint through lower emissions and diesel consumption, as well as decreasing air and noise pollution."
"We are delighted to be one of the first customers trialling this new type of engineless refrigeration unit offering significant environmental benefits," said Caroline Sindrey, engineering manager, Tesco.
"The new system offers huge potential to help us reduce our carbon footprint through lower emissions and diesel consumption, as well as decreasing air and noise pollution. We also hope it will reduce maintenance and fuel costs across our fleet of vehicles in the long term."
A PIEK-compliant noise level rating makes the units ideally suited to Tesco's intensive delivery work, while the slim-profile evaporator offers maximized load space. Many serviceable items, such as drive belts, pulleys and compressor shaft seals, have also been eliminated, replaced with two refrigerating circuits that are fed by separate fullyhermetic scroll compressors. This has helped to optimise both uptime levels and refrigerant containment for the supermarket retailer.
Tesco plans to keep the units in the fleet for eight years carrying out extensive deliveries to Tesco Convenience stores.