FPS provides bespoke software and hardware solutions for planning and managing electric vehicle fleets across all classes of commercial vehicle. As part of its wider collaboration with the John Lewis Partnership, it has been working with Waitrose to deliver a monitoring and load control solution that allows the electricity consumption of transport refrigeration units (TRUs) to be monitored and controlled by FPS’ proprietary cloud-based Operate software.
There are many advantages to using electricity to power TRUs in distribution centres via ‘hook-ups’. TRUs are said to account for 10-15% of heavy goods vehicle fuel use and up to two-thirds of this usage can take place in depots where energy intensive activities like pull-downs and waiting take place. Switching to electricity reduces running costs, particulate and noise pollution. It also can produce 6-10% reductions in Scope 1 carbon emissions without requiring significant vehicle investments.
However, TRU hook-up programmes can be delayed or cancelled for several reasons. In some locations, a lack of power can make it impossible to plug in TRUs without investment in costly connection upgrades that can take years. At others, a lack of information about return on investment from the plugs can prevent projects from going ahead.
Waitrose has a programme of TRU hook-up deployments as part of its efforts to reduce fuel costs and emissions from operations of its fleet. The company’s Aylesford distribution centre operates more than 200 temperature-controlled vehicles from four separate warehouses. Aylesford was selected for investment by the transport team because of the potential to deliver 100 T per month of carbon savings.
Pre-build electric load modelling revealed that the current grid connection capacity at Aylesford was insufficient to support the project. It was established that an upgrade would have been costly and lengthy.
Dynamic and targeted load control of TRU hook-up loads was identified as a potential solution. FPS and Waitrose, therefore, collaborated to develop a new hardware and software solution that enabled automated load monitoring control to take place at the distribution centre, avoiding the need for a costly connection upgrade.
FPS delivered an intelligent 32 amp ‘smart plug’ capable of metering, load control, and two-way communications. The ‘smart plug’ was then integrated into FPS’ e-fleet management platform FPS Operate which is integrated into a range of Waitrose operated metering and logistics software systems, thus facilitating automated load control and monitoring.
Waitrose worked with FPS to integrate operational and energy systems at the site and to develop a specification for the ‘smart plug’ that would be suitable for distribution centre operations.
The result of the collaboration is that an expensive grid connection has been avoided along with a multi-year project delay.
Jackie Hewson, partner and alternative fuels implementation manager, said: “The Partnership has an ambitious commitment to eliminating fossil fuels from our fleet by 2030. Business as usual solutions won’t achieve this, so we are committed to working collaboratively with innovators like FPS to overcome challenges to achieving this goal.”
Nick Schulze, principal development engineer at FPS, said: “The decarbonisation of logistics represents a complex challenge for fleets, especially in the cold chain sector. At FPS, we’re all about offering innovative but simple solutions that can be implemented quickly to help fleets decarbonise in the most sustainable way possible. I’m proud that our solution can accelerate the decarbonisation of cold chain logistics.”
The 2024 RAC Cooling Awards are being held today at The Grosvenor Hotel in London.
