Press Release 

New Range of Thermo King Road Transport Refrigeration Units Offer Even Greater Industry-Leading Fuel Efficiency

19th September 2012

Thermo King is introducing a new SLXe range of trailer refrigeration units that provide even greater energy and operational efficiency and driver comfort and minimized operating costs.

Thermo King a manufacturer of transport temperature control systems for a variety of mobile applications and a brand of Ingersoll Rand, will introduce this single and multi-temperature range of solutions at the IAA Commercial Vehicle Show in September this year.

While the SLX was already the most fuel efficient solution in the category, the majority of SLXe multi-temperature models now offer the electronic throttling valve (ETV) technology previously only available on the single-temperature version of the SLX unit. ETV technology makes the multi-temperature models 8 percent more fuel efficient. They also offer 7 percent greater refrigeration capacity.

The majority of SLXe single-temperature models can also be delivered with the ETV. Thermo King customers operating single temperature trailers have already been able to experience the unique benefits of this technology on thousands of applications across the world.

“The fuel efficiency that the SLXe range offers can make a significant difference in fleet costs,” said Pascal Richard, regional segment leader for the Thermo King portfolio in the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa region for Ingersoll Rand. “Fuel costs continue to be the biggest challenge in the overall operating cost of a fleet of refrigerated trailers, especially after the rising prices seen in recent years.”

Thermo King has expanded the unit’s refrigeration capacity by further optimizing the highly fuel efficient direct drive compressor architecture and redesigning the unit operation, especially in multi-temperature applications.

The redesigned solution also introduces innovative features that ease installation, ensure reliable performance and optimize efficient cargo flow and data management. This includes fleet tracking capabilities and the ability to retrieve diagnostics using a thumb drive. The SLXe is one of the industry’s first units to offer dual-mode cellular/WiFi monitoring capabilities and provides the only telematics device that is factory installed and supported.

The full range of SLXe solutions is available with lighter and more compact microchannel heat exchangers, reducing the refrigerant content of the unit. The microchannel heat exchangers also help ensure a longer lifecycle, since the risk of galvanic corrosion is eliminated.

The SLXe benefits from 17 upgrade points regarding corrosion protection. Most significantly, Thermo King adopted an E-coating process during manufacture of the unit frame.

Although the previous trailer range was already the quietest of its category, the SLXe trailer unit framework has been redesigned to further reduce structure-borne vibrations. This provides greater driver comfort, especially during night delivery. It also lowers mechanical stress to contribute to increased unit life expectancy and positively impact resale value.

For night deliveries, a PIEK certified version, the SLXe Whisper, is also available. The unit stays below 60 dBA, even at high speed operation mode, generating minimum acoustical impact in the delivery zone neighbourhood.

The new SLXe range is covered as standard by a two-year warranty and can be backed up by ThermoKare maintenance programs available from 300 service points across Europe.

Thermo King customers can also benefit from the pallet of tools developed for driver training (Professor Kool), equipment monitoring (Wintrac) and equipment parameters setting based on the type of goods to be transported (Optiset+)

For more information, please contact Heidi McGuire.