Huuskes – Sustainable Transportation

Moving towards zero-carbon transportation, Huuskes and Addvolt are taking a big step in making the cold chains cleaner, safer, and more efficient.

Huuskes is a total supplier, producer, and knowledge partner of food and drink for healthcare and corporate catering. The family business supplies a complete range of meals and groceries to customers in both the Netherlands and Germany from six branches in the Netherlands. Huuskes puts sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) high on the agenda and implements this in all business processes, including logistics. Last year, the company started equipping its trucks with the Addvolt Plug-in Electric System to make the refrigerated transport of food and drinks for healthcare institutions, hospitals, and company restaurants even safer, cleaner, and more reliable.

Huuskes develops, produces, distributes, and facilitates food and drink for various healthcare institutions, hospitals, and company restaurants. When delivering refrigerated goods, there is usually one problem: when arriving at a delivery destination, the vehicle's engine is turned off to avoid burdening the local neighborhoods with noise, pollution, and CO₂ emissions. As a consequence, the electric refrigeration unit also stops. Depending on the outside temperature and the cooling interruption duration, these cooling stops can affect the integrity of the cold chain. However, this can now be avoided thanks to Addvolt's breakthrough technology. By using the fully electrical Plug-in system from Addvolt, the cargo area's temperature remains constant, safe, and reliable even when the vehicle's engine is turned off.

The Addvolt's technology supplies electricity to the refrigeration unit when the vehicle's engine is off, allowing it to operate quietly and environmentally friendly. In this way, Huuskes can maintain the cold chain's integrity, reduce diesel costs, and eliminate emissions and noise during distribution shutdowns. The Addvolt system can be charged at any distribution center by connecting the vehicle to the electricity grid. Because the Huuskes distribution center is equipped with solar panels, the advanced lithium-ion batteries from Addvolt's Plug-in Electric system can be charged with solar energy, making distribution even more sustainable.

Huuskes also uses the digital platform My Addvolt for all vehicles equipped with Addvolt systems. My Addvolt offers access to real-time data, such as information about the fleet's performance and warranty extension on the battery modules for up to 5 years. This makes it possible to monitor the cold chain anytime, anywhere.

The first Addvolt system was mounted on a Huuskes truck in the spring of 2020 to power a Frigoblock cooling unit. What started with a single system was quickly expanded: four Huuskes trucks were equipped with the Addvolt system in 2020 in combination with Frigoblock FK13 MT cooling units, followed by two more vehicles in February 2021, and two more vehicles will be delivered in September 2021.

The solutions were installed by Addvolt's Dutch partner Groot RMO Techniek. This organization will continue to support Huuskes with the service activities. Switching to fully electric cooling minimizes the total operating costs and the environmental impact: from June to December, Huuskes saved more than 6 tons of CO₂ emissions and about 2,400 liters of diesel per truck.

“The partnership with Addvolt integrates our commitment to adopting eco-friendly vehicles, following the European Union's 2050 climate neutrality goal. By using the Addvolt Plug-in Electric system, we are self-sufficient. We do not have to use our customer's facilities and the truck's engine does not have to be running. In this way, we limit CO₂ and noise pollution, improving our truck drivers' quality of life while protecting the future of people and the planet.”

“Groot RMO Techniek is always looking for innovations and solutions for our customers. That is the strength of our company. In 2016, we were invited to experience the Addvolt solution in Porto. We were very impressed by the product and its quality. At that time, transport electrification was not yet an issue in the Netherlands, but now with all the low-emission areas in city centers, it is a product that can really help reduce CO₂ emissions, noise, and fuel costs. The possibilities with Addvolt and its team are endless. Together with our company, we form a strong combination. On the Huuskes trucks, we have made it possible for the refrigeration unit to automatically switch to battery mode when the truck's engine stops running. The driver does not have to think about that. We are proud and very happy that Huuskes has given us the opportunity to mount the Addvolt units on their trucks.”