There was another remarkable development in South Africa, where significant breakthroughs were made about the transition to electric vehicles. United Pharmaceutical Distributors (UPD), which operates in the field of pharmaceutical transportation, took an important step to make cold chain vehicles completely electric. The company, which aims to make the cooling (Reefer) vans used in pharmaceutical transport 100 percent electric, signed a joint project with Everlectric and Invetec Sustainable Solutions and formed its first fleet with zero emissions.

Solar panels on the roof provide electricity to the cooling unit in UPD’s vehicles

The vehicles in this fleet, which consist of 42 electric vans, use solar panels to keep the container constantly cold. The solar panels, which are installed on the roof of the vehicles, provide electricity to the cooling unit while the vehicle does not work and allows the cooling system to operate uninterruptedly.

In this fleet, Maxus Edeliver 3 vans produced by SAIC Maxus were used. Everlectric was the task of making these vehicles suitable for cold chain transportation.

There are two 400W solar panels on the ceiling of the vehicles. The cooling system in the vehicle is accompanied by a inverter and 200AH lithium-ion battery. This mechanism allows the cooling compartment to operate up to two days without sunlight. In addition, the vehicle’s own 50.5KW battery can be used to run the cooling unit if necessary.

This special version of the Maxue Edeliver 3 is the first cooling van of the cooling unit that the cooling unit takes power from solar panels. Maxus Edeliver 3 offers a range of 220–250 km when full charge; The vehicle has one ton of capacity and has a 6.5m³ cooling area.

The temperature controlled cabins in the vans are used in a light composite PVC material used in super yachts. This material offers an environmentally friendly solution by making the cooling boxes of the vehicles 50 percent lighter (about 200 kilograms). The UPD says that the combination of this innovative cooling boxes and the solar -powered cooling system is the perfect option for urban pharmaceutical logistics.

In particular, cold chain vehicles, which play a critical role in drug transportation, are also left during loading or breaks in order to transfer uninterrupted electricity to the cooling system in the container. Especially in carbon -fuel versions, this situation, which attracts the carbon emissions, causes waste of energy in electric models. UPD’s solar panel vans offer a much more environmentally friendly alternative.

Upd; He installed charging stations in their own warehouses for his electric fleet

The UPD says each of these vehicles will reduce carbon emissions once a month. The entire fleet is expected to save 2.4 million liters of fuel during its life and reduce carbon emissions by 6.3 million kg. Of course, the fuel cost and maintenance costs together with this will also have decreased significantly.

The UPD set up high -speed charging stations on their warehouses to avoid charging problems of the electric fleet. In addition, 1170 new solar panels were established around these warehouses for these stations. These stations, installed in the warehouses of the UPD, allow vehicles to be charged during loading, thus eliminating the waste of time.