Battery electric, solar-powered reefer units reach their first customers — SkimNews
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- Sunswap Endurance was delivered to Wickham Freight Lines this week as the first regular-production solar-powered electric trailer refrigeration unit in Australia to reach a real customer.
- Wickham Freight Lines bought Sunswap Endurance units after a trial from Sydney to Brisbane and back, covering 1,670 km over more than 30 hours of driving the previous summer.
- Sunswap Endurance finished that round trip with more than 65% of its battery capacity still available, after which Wickham called the purchase “a no-brainer.”
- Sunswap Endurance can keep food and pharmaceuticals cold in transit without burning diesel, while conventional reefers use high-sulfur, red-dye generators that run around the clock, emitting CO₂ and NOx and adding noise even when the towing truck is electric.
- Graham Keogh, Wickham Freight Lines’ director, said performance, reliability and operational savings exceeded expectations and made commercial sense for a large east-coast fleet focused heavily on refrigerated and cold-chain freight.
Why it matters: The purchase gives Wickham Freight Lines a diesel-free refrigeration option for a fleet focused on refrigerated and cold-chain freight, after a 1,670-kilometre, 30-plus-hour trial finished with over 65% battery capacity remaining. It also makes Wickham the named customer behind Sunswap Endurance’s first regular-production unit in Australia.
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