Krone Trailers on a New Mission of Sustainable, Digitized, Electrified and Automated Transport

Consistently following the latest trends in the industry of freight vehicles, especially in the development and production of heavy trucks for long-haul transport, the German company Krone chose the motto “Mission Beyond Zero” for this year’s biggest show of commercial vehicles in Europe, IAA Transportation Hanover. Under that slogan, it exhibited several items which hint at its vision of road transport in this and upcoming decades.

The visitors to the Hanover event (which was marked this time by the ever-present topic of electricity), primarily professionals in transport and logistics, with the possibility of viewing a part of Krone’s conventional program, but modernized when it comes to details, as expected, showed the most interest in “electrified” semi-trailers and state-of-the-art telematic systems.

The star of the big stand was the semitrailer Krone eMega Liner: a modern classic “curtainsider” with an innovative drive that unifies two megatrends – sustainability and electrification. Creates as part of the cooperation with the Trailer Dynamics startup, eMega Liner, once it enters serial production, will enable the owner of classic tow trucks to spend less diesel and to emit 20-40% less carbon-dioxide! The strong (middle) e-axle is the heart of the innovative technology, which, in certain situations during the ride (setting off, overtaking, driving uphill) supports the drive of the tow truck. It renews (replenishes) electrical energy through recuperation – in every braking of the tow truck (the truck and the semi-trailer itself). The intelligent control software, another technical-technological top achievement, takes care of the optimal use and distribution of electrical energy from the batteries along the whole route. To simplify, the semi-trailer system transforms into an electrical plug-in hybrid, by intelligently combining the e-semitrailer and the diesel-powered tow truck. In addition to reducing the consumption of a classic tow truck with a diesel engine, the new solution offers remarkable potential for fully electric tow trucks (powered by electricity from batteries or from the combustion of hydrogen in fuel cells) because it enables autonomy, that is, fully electrified transport of heavy goods over great distances, even up to 1,000 km.

In a way similar to eMega Liner, Krone has “electrified” another one of its bestsellers: the reefer semitrailer from the well-known Cool LIner series. The Hanover exhibition item – eCool Liner with a Celsineo refrigeration unit, is another big step toward the ecological and economic sustainability of road transport. In the innovative eCool LIner semi-trailer, the refrigeration system enables the temperature-sensitive cargo to be refrigerated without the emission of harmful gases. Celsineo, the joint brand of Krone and Liebherr, has offered a new class of refrigeration systems based on the principle of three plug-and-play refrigeration modules of identical design, which is now also available in the fully electric variety. The high-voltage system of 800 V not only powers the fully electric Celsineo refrigeration system (which requires, on average, 15 kW of power in the cargo refrigeration phase), but also power the electric drive of the e-semitrailer.

Krone presented another version of the reefer semitrailer eCool Liner for sustainable refrigerated transport with a fully electric refrigeration system Carrier Vector HE 19. The middle axle of the semi-trailer charges the longitudinal battery through the process of recuperation. Through intelligent control electronics, it enables a fully electric refrigeration system, so this eCool Liner also works entirely without a diesel unit, so the refrigeration system does not emit CO2 or other harmful gases and matters. An additional sustainability effect is the lower emission of noise of the fully electric refrigeration system, which enables the delivery of goods at night as well.

In Hanover, Krone also presented the intelligent Box Liner Automatic container body. In transporting containers, it is often unclear in advance which container size is to be transported. The driver is usually given this information right before the loading, and then they have to adapt the container body, which involves numerous operations, as fast as possible. The innovative concept vehicle Box Liner eLTU 50 Traction Automatic has the option of automatic pre-settings. The driver can comfortably and safely initiate the setting of the body for the transport of containers by pressing a button on the remote control from the truck cabin. Compared to the standard procedure, the new Krone technology is a quantum leap. For the driver, this means not just a physical relief, but also a considerably improved safety. At the same time, a wrong setting up of the body is avoided. The new automatic function also has a positive effect on the speed of the reloading, so the handling of containers at port dock is expected to be around 10% more efficient.

The numerous avantgarde thematic, digitized systems, some of which are already present in serially-produced vehicles, and many of which are just arriving – will be discussed on another occasion, because they deserve equal, if not bigger attention than the described innovations.

Sejari doo – the general representative of the KRONE vehicles for Serbia and Montenegro

Sejari d.o.o. Beograd

Sejari

Krone

Trailer Dynamics

Liebherr

Hanover

IAA Transportation

Mission beyond zero

Krone eMega Liner

Cool Liner

eCool LIner with Celsineo refrigeration unit

eCool LIner

Celsineo

refrigeration system Carrier Vector HE 19

Box Liner Automatic container body

Box Liner eLTU 50 Traction Automatic

exhibition of electrified semitrailers

telematic systems

electric drive trucks

e semitrailer

diesel tow truck

electric tow trucks

hydrogen drive

reefer semitrailer

emission of harmful gases

container transport

reloading speed