This year’s BusVic Maintenance Conference and Bus Expo unleashed a plethora of new product, including new air-cons from Thermo King
By David Goeldner | July 13, 2011
Australia’s biggest selling air-conditioning group QTK, the suppliers of Thermo King, could get even bigger with a new range of units displayed at BusVic’s annual conference earlier this month.
QTK Group National Manager Anthony O’Donnell, pictured centre with the QTK team, says feedback from this year’s show had been overwhelmingly positive, and felt the timing was right to showcase two X-series units direct from Europe.
O’Donnell says there are two critical factors designed into the X-series aircons – lighter weight high capacity units with reduced refrigerant charge.
He says the earlier series LRT 220 kilogram units is now down to 130 kilograms in the new X-series.
“And with new refrigeration technology we’ve reduced 12 kilos of refrigerant down to just four kilos,” O’Donnell says.
Of the four variants in the X-series range, O’Donnell brought the X-900 and the X-900 Advantech to Melbourne for the show.
“The X-900 Advantech has a high capacity refrigerant with a quick pull down for city bus application,” he says.
The Advantech also ticks the green boxes with its light refrigerant charge for the size of the unit.
“The X-900 is about 50 kilos lighter than any unit on the market for that size,” O’Donnell says.
O’Donnell adds that with chassis getting heaver with more equipment required to meet new Euro emissions ratings, he hopes the lighter weight Thermo King units will offset this as a body option.
“We’ve put a lot of thought into what to bring out to Australia, and light weight, high capacity units is the way we’ve decided to go,” he says.
He says this should benefit operators, allowing more carrying capacity in their vehicles.