Sonos Motors, a Munich-based company, signed a purchase contract with The Reefer Group in order to build their first solar powered refrigerated trailers.

According to Global Trailer, Sonos will work with Chereau, a subsidiary of the Reefer Group, to test the new trailers in order to evaluate the technical and economic feasibility of installing solar panels on a high volume of vehicles.

Sonos Motors stated that the solar panel solution could provide a peak of 9.8kW solar power to the trailer, which in turn could reduce fuel consumption by as much as 3.400 liters (up to 8.475 liters in peak performance).

This also has the benefit of reducing carbon emissions by as much as 9 tons per year per vehicle compared to trailers that are equipped with diesel-powered cooling units.

Laurin Hahn, Sonos Motors co-founder and CEO, said that "this partnership is a huge step for Sono Motors, since we open up a completely new industry for our highly flexible and proprietary Sono Solar technology."

"We offer a lightweight and adaptable platform that is ideal for refrigerated trailers and allows customers in the transportation industry to cut costs and emissions throughout their fleet", he added.

Damien Destremau, CEO of The Reefer Group and Chereau, stated that "this is a big step towards making commercial mobility more sustainable and reducing emissions."

Sonos Motors will equip the roof and sides of an existing Chereau trailer with 54 solar panel modules for the IAA Transportation event that will take later this year, in Hannover.

The highly efficient, automotive-grade solar panels will cover a total surface of 58.9 square meters and will have a peak output of 9.8 kW, which will be used to power the cooling unit, as well as charging the batteries.

If the technology will be implemented on a large scale, this could mean the further decarbonization of the cargo transportation system.