After a field trial between Sydney and Brisbane, the Queensland carrier commits to battery-electric, solar-charged trailer refrigeration
Refrigerated trailers usually carry their own diesel engine to keep the cargo cold. Wickham Freight Lines has just bought one that does not. The family-owned carrier from Warwick, Queensland, is the first company in Australia to purchase a Sunswap Endurance, a fully battery-electric, solar-charged refrigeration unit distributed by Protran Solutions.
The trial that convinced them
The purchase followed a field trial with a demonstrator trailer supplied by Protran. According to the company, a run between Sydney and Brisbane covered 1,671 km over 32 hours and finished with 67% of battery charge remaining.
“I put the Sunswap Endurance into the fleet and told the team to stretch it, treat it as a normal unit,” said Graham Keogh, director at Wickham Freight Lines. “For a business like ours running a large fleet across the east coast, with a heavy focus on refrigerated and cold chain freight, this technology makes real commercial sense.”
How the unit works
The Sunswap Endurance is designed to run independently of diesel power, e-axles and the truck’s electrical system. Integrated solar panels top up the battery during daylight, while the battery bank carries the load through overnight transits, waits at loading docks and long runs without sun.
For operators, the practical case rests on three points: no refrigeration fuel, simpler maintenance with no engine, fuel filters or exhaust to service, and quiet operation for urban and night-time deliveries.
“We run a serious operation: refrigerated freight, long-distance runs, customers who rely on us to deliver on time and on temperature,” Keogh said. “Completing that kind of distance with more than half the battery still in reserve tells you everything about the reliability of this system.”
What comes next
Grant Turner, managing director of Protran Solutions, called Wickham’s commitment after a demanding trial “the strongest possible endorsement” and said the company aims to grow the Sunswap Endurance fleet across Australia.
For the wider transport sector, the story points to a part of the truck that often gets overlooked in electrification debates. The trailer’s refrigeration unit runs for hours, often while parked, and is one of the easier places to remove diesel without changing the prime mover.
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