Cold chain buyers usually ask for a price first. It is the wrong first question, because on this list the same truck is published at two different prices and the gap is not a discount — it is a different market. Below, six Foton refrigerated chassis are read the way a quote is read: what the box measures, what the refrigeration unit is actually named as, how much mass is left once the box is on, and only then the money.

The same truck, two quotes, USD 6,220 apart

Two listings on this site describe one vehicle. Both are Aumark S, both 4×2, both on a 3,360 mm wheelbase, both 8.5 t gross, both with a Foton Cummins ISF3.8s3154 rated 115 hp at 2,600 rpm and 500 N·m between 1,200 and 1,900 rpm, both Euro III, both with a ZF 6S500 six-speed, 2.85 t front and 6 t rear axles, a 4.3 final drive, a 120-litre tank and six wheels plus a spare. Both name the refrigeration unit as a Carrier (Thermo King) RV589 and both publish the same insulated box: 4,170 × 2,100 × 2,100 mm.

Every published number matches. The difference is the destination written on the sheet. Anyone comparing a supplier quote against this page should therefore compare the market named on the quote, not only the model code. The Turkmenistan listing and the Sierra Leone listing are the only two entries here that name a refrigeration unit at all, which is why they are worth reading line by line.

What the other four publish — and what they do not

Refrigerated is a word, not a specification. Of the six chassis here, only the two Aumark S listings name the unit (Thermo King RV589) and the insulated box dimensions. The Aumark EST-M 22 t reefer publishes a cargo body of 7,800 × 2,450 × 600 mm — a floor area, not a refrigerated envelope — and no unit at all. The Auman Galaxy 8×4 620 hp publishes a 9.55 m box on a 12 m body at 32 t gross, and again no refrigeration unit. The electric ELE4 eAumark chassis publishes a chassis at 7,480 kg gross and no box.

Mass left after the box

A refrigeration body is heavy and the published gross weight does not move to accommodate it. The Galaxy 8×4 publishes 32 t gross, 11.5 t vehicle weight and a 20.37 t rated load — so the body and the payload share 20.37 t. The ELE4 eAumark publishes 7,480 kg gross against a 3,015 kg chassis kerb, leaving 4,465 kg before a box is fitted. The Aumark S publishes 8.5 t gross and no kerb weight, so the true payload of that reefer has to be weighed, not read. The Aumark EST-M 22 t publishes 22,000 kg gross and no kerb either.

The electric option, read cold

The ELE4 eAumark 4×2 is the only battery chassis in the group and the only one that publishes an energy figure rather than a fuel tank. Its sheet gives 537 Wh/km, a C-WTVC range of 180 km at 25 °C against a tested 186 km, a slow charge of five hours and a fast charge of one hour from 20 to 100 per cent, and a permanent-magnet synchronous motor. Refrigeration load is not itemised anywhere on the sheet, and range is quoted at 25 °C on a C-WTVC cycle — two conditions that a loaded reefer will not reproduce.