British engineering company Sunswap – which produces solar-powered refrigeration units for lorries – has launched a new manufacturing plant in Surrey to meet demand.
The Leatherhead facility – which will create 75 jobs – comes after a £17.3m Series B funding round for the company, which was founded in 2020.
Customers Samworth Brothers, Staples Vegetables and Cranswick will receive new units of Sunswap’s Endurance unit – which combines battery storage with roof-mounted solar panels to provide up to 100% of the energy needed for refrigeration on certain chilled operations – in the coming months.
Those producer partnerships follow successful trials of Endurance through 2023 and last year. They join existing customers such as fresh, frozen and prepared fruit and vegetables supplier Greenyard, and logistics and leasing firms such as DFDS and TIP.
Tesco trialled the unit last year, and based on the emissions projection of a decade of use where Endurance replaces a diesel equivalent, the unit can remove 50 tonnes of Scope 3 carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, while Tesco’s fleet will save 70% on operational expenditure.
Müller Milk & Ingredients put the unit through its paces in a trial in 2023. The system is predicted to eliminate all the diesel required for trailer refrigeration for the dairy giant, saving 3,700 litres and nine tonnes of carbon every year.
Sunswap had initially partnered with third-party manufacturers to make Endurance, but “rapid growth in orders” called for “accelerated development of in-house production” the company said.
The facility will also give Sunswap “the flexibility to scale up production to meet new demand” as it expands into the European market.
“Building our own manufacturing facility has always been core to Sunswap’s plans,” said Michael Lowe, CEO of Sunswap. “The recent fundraising success and growing customer interest in Endurance has accelerated our timeline.”
“We’re proud to invest in British manufacturing and engineering talent as we scale up production of zero-emission transport refrigeration technology,” Lowe added.
The company is backed by investors including BGF, Barclays and Shell Ventures.
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