Krone promotes trailer innovations at IAA
Among the attendees at IAA Transportation 2022 last month was trailer builder Krone, which showcased a range of new products, such as its electrified eTrailer, and improvements to trailer models to simplify driver handling.
The company also promoted new service offers designed to make fleet management more economical. In addition it hosted the ‘Krone Denkfabrik’ (think-tank) programme, including technical and political discussions and featuring prominent participants such as VDA president Hildegard Müller and Bernard Krone, chairman of the Supervisory Board of Krone Holding.
The firm was also promoting its ‘Mission Beyond Zero’ concept, described as the ‘starting signal’ for a new generation of trailer transport solutions that combine four key trends Krone has identified in the trailer industry – digitalisation, automation, sustainability and electrification – to significantly reduce the CO2 emissions of semi-trailer trucks.
The company believes the aforementioned four ‘megatrends’ present an “immense challenge” for the trailer sector, according to Dr Frank Albers, managing director for sales and marketing at Krone.
“Generally, trailers actively consume no fossil fuels and emit no CO2 during a transport,” said Dr Albers.
“We are now going one step further and helping active fuel consumers to improve their CO2 balance: Krone eTrailer technology takes the strain off the tractor unit, reducing the semi-trailer’s CO2 emissions by 20 to 40 per cent. The energy carried in the eTrailer is also suitable for long distances over 500 km.
“eTrailers can be used in plug-and-play mode with any conventional tractor unit and can increase the range of a fully electrified tractor unit on long distances over 500 km.”
To address the increasing digitalisation of the sector, the company showcased Krone Intelligent Transport Solutions (KITS) with new technologies and services, including its new standard interface that is open to all systems.
“One example of advancing automation is the intelligent load space detection Krone Smart Capacity Management, thanks to which load capacities can be detected and better utilised,” Dr Albers continued.
“This technology helps to avoid empty runs and at the same time improve the CO2 balance.
“Krone is also breaking new ground in the automation of trailers with the Box Liner eLTU 50 Traction Automatic: the driver can adjust the container chassis to the respective container at the push of a button from the truck cab.
“For port handling, we expect this to increase efficiency by around ten percent. At the same time, diesel consumption and CO2 emissions are significantly reduced and driver safety is increased during container loading.”
He added: “The IAA Transportation is the most important platform for us to meet our customers and interested parties from all over the world.
“We are very pleased that after the corona-induced break in 2020, we can now once again cultivate direct exchange with our customers.”
