Sustainable refrigeration manufacturer steps up UK presence

Hultsteins, the Swedish and British hydraulic refrigeration systems manufacturer has appointed a new sales agent to cover the east side of the UK. Eco Truck Refrigeration Ltd will offer the full range of Hultsteins’ diesel-free transport refrigeration products, including Ecogen, the company’s flagship hybrid power generator.

With many years of experience in the temperature-controlled transport sector, Eco Truck Fridge Managing Director Graham Usher is upbeat regarding the new alliance.

“I am delighted to be joining forces with Hultsteins and helping to promote these long established, well proven products in the UK & Ireland. Hultsteins’ wide range, of ‘one-engine’ sustainable solutions, offers significant cost & emissions savings which, until recent times, have not been widely available to operators here in the UK.”

Hultsteins’ UK Sales Director and inventor of the British-built Ecogen system, Stephen Maile, picks up the theme:

“Hultsteins’ sustainable solutions are working for retailers and operators in several European countries and we are very glad that Eco Truck Fridge is on board to continue our good work here in the UK and Ireland.” 

Steve goes on to explain that with the increasing demand for Ecogen in the UK and Europe, Hultsteins needed to strengthen their UK sales function and with Graham Usher’s depth of industry experience and a new sales agency in place, Eco Truck Fridge was the natural fit.

“Also,” adds Steve “we decided to keep the sales operation separate to manufacturing and service which, under my control, allows us to concentrate on production and technical support in the UK while continuing to build on European sales in partnership with Hultsteins in Sweden.”

Accordingly, says Steve, Hultsteins UK & Eco Truck Fridge – with a focus on London and the East side of the UK – will aim to provide a better managed service to current and future Hultsteins customers.

Hultsteins have been designing and producing hydraulic and electric-drive transport refrigeration systems for nearly 60 years and as the environmental and economic effects of diesel consumption become more evident, systems such as EcoGen are increasingly seen as a sustainable solution.

“For example,” adds Graham “the long-standing rebate on ‘red’ diesel for use in fridge engines changes in 2022 when the duty will increase from 11.1 ppl to the full tax rate of 57.7 ppl. Temperature controlled transport operators will therefore need to absorb the impact and for any operator, with standard trailer fridge engines consuming 3-5 litres of red diesel per unit per hour, the

fridge operators doing 2500 fridge engine hours per annum will be hit with additional costs of £5700 extra for each trailer they run. Therefore, the potential  fuel saving and extended fridge life, coupled with substantial reductions in carbon and harmful emissions are substantial.

Graham goes on to explain that Ecogen can be retrofitted easily to any truck with an engine drive PTO (power take off) and will drive any type of conventional diesel fridge with electric standby, from any of the major manufacturers. Plus, rather than intending to replace the existing refrigeration system, the system works in tandem with the fridge unit to provide a cheaper and less harmful power source – generating a constant 400-volt, 3-phase electrical power to the same standard as the mains supply.

With this typical application, say Hultsteins, operators can expect to extend the life of existing fridge units, while subject to the annual amount of running hours, potentially  seeing a return on investment in under 18 months.

Commenting on the appointment of Eco Truck Refrigeration, Hultsteins Managing Director, Börje Axelsson concludes:

“Graham is well known in the industry and worked closely with us on early trials a few years ago. His expertise will be an asset as we further introduce our eco-friendly transport refrigeration systems in the UK and Ireland.”