Motor carriers everywhere all deal with a similar problem: How to prevent truck drivers from breaking down or missing delivery times because of a failed battery, whether it be in the truck or the liftgate. The trucking industry is a fast-paced environment where businesses across the country must count on products and services motor carriers offer. The problem lies in the delivery routes themselves.
Delivery routes with multiple stops may not provide enough battery charge time. What happens then? Trucks may not start, and lift gates may not work. Usually within a fleet manager’s budget is money set aside for expensive service calls due to broken or poorly functioning lift gates.
In the past, lift gate batteries have been charged by a tractor’s alternator. This meant you could not charge them from a dead stop. The truck had to be running – burning gas – in order to charge the lift gate batteries. The problem is many states have enacted strict anti-idling laws and statutes. While this is great for the environment, it has robbed truck drivers of a critical charging source.
Even worse, many truck drivers need to let their trucks idle for quite some time to fully charge the battery. This is largely because the voltage loss from long DC wires running to the lift gate batteries from the alternator. Simply put, too much power is lost along the way. That means much more fuel needs to be burned to get adequate charge into the battery.
Trucking companies are at a disadvantage from the start because battery problems often do not expose themselves until it is too late. The next thing you know, an expensive service call – or worse – is just around the corner. And the problem is not just relegated to old, worn out batteries. Even new batteries that replace low voltage batteries are susceptible to not receiving enough charge and suffering from low performance.
What Can You Do?
One solution motor carriers are looking at is solar power. Solar power is cost effective, easy to install, and most of all – free. You can also charge at a higher voltage when repowering on solar power. This is because the energy travels a shorter distance from the power source to the battery.
To ensure you reduce battery degradation, you must keep your battery at a voltage of between 12.7 and 14.4 volts. While you can hold a minimum voltage of 12.2, that is considered the red zone. Batteries held in this range will have a reduced life expectancy. The good news is, with solar power, a fraction of a percent of the battery ever dips into the 12.2-volt range.
Without solar charging, a battery will typically spend 20 percent of its lifespan in a state of decay, or 12.2 volts. Adding solar drops that to 4 percent. Not only does this reduce the fuel required to idle-charge a battery, it also offsets future maintenance costs. Some benefits to running battery charging efforts off solar include:
- Charges the battery without being connected to the alternator
- Reduces overall engine maintenance
- Reduces vehicle emissions
- Increases alternator life
- Extends the battery life
- Does not require grid connection to charge
If you have a lift gate failure due to power problems, you can expect:
- A service call of around $500 to $700
- 2 – 4 hours on a truck reload
- A 6 to 8-month battery replacement cycle
- 10 – 30 lift gate cycles per day depending on drive time
The good news? Trucking companies who use solar power to charge their batteries rarely fail or have power problems. Idling costs drop to zero, and best of all, battery replacement life extends to 3 to 5 years. You can even expect to get a minimum of 25 cycles a day regardless of how much time you drive.
Lift gate batteries are well-known for dying prematurely. Dead batteries also mean the fleet will suffer hard expenses, which sucks from the bottom line. What is a hard cost? Hard expenses can be broken down as things like service calls, loading/reloading, missed deliveries, spoilage, or equipment replacement. Soft expenses, on the other hand, are things like unusable bays, late shipments, or other things that lead to a bad customer experience and bruised reputation.
In a best-case scenario, a 300-watt solar panel could produce the energy equivalent of an additional battery. So, you would get around 2 hours of power before the engine would need to be brought into the picture to recharge the batteries. Trucking companies could save 30 to 50 percent on jump start service calls over the course of a year by using solar power.
Keep Your Truck Drivers Happy
Solar is a great option for truck HVAC systems. Your truck drivers will be happy and motivated when you ensure the cab equipment, they need stays running properly. Solar panels can extend the runtime of systems you or your truck drivers rely on. Solar charged throughout the day will keep cab systems running into the night without draining the truck’s batteries.
For every day living in a properly outfitted cab, solar panels can keep things such as refrigerators, televisions, coffee pots, gaming systems, microwaves, charging ports, and a lot of other electronics running. These are common items that many truck drivers find necessary to stay comfortable while out on the road.
The combined load of devices connected to the solar panel might normally only be sustained for eight to ten hours a day with a truck’s standard battery. At that point the battery would be reaching critically low voltage, which, as we mentioned, would result in a loss of lifespan. Solar panels augment the energy, which allows what we call “hotel” loads to operate far longer than they normally would.
Challenges to Consider
As with any new technology, using solar does not come without a set of challenges. Certainly, there are many benefits to trucking with solar panels, but there are also a lot of challenges to consider. One of the main challenges trucking companies mention is that of cost. Money is always a motivator. Installing solar panels on a truck costs around $2,500 and it could take you anywhere from 2 – 4 years to earn back the money depending on the application.
Another challenge is sun exposure. It really depends on where your company is trucking. Geography plays a large role in how much power you will be able to get to the panels. The less sun exposure the panel gets, the less power will be delivered to the vehicle or battery.
Solar panels are also most effective when they are clean. It is important to make sure that dust, debris, and snow are all wiped clear of the panel before the tractor-trailer hits the road. Some companies do make coatings to prevent the formation of dirt and debris, but they are not completely foolproof.
Why Solar is Important
Even the North American Council for Freight Efficiency has weight in on the issue. In their 16th Confidence Report, “Solar for Trucks and Trailers,” they listed a 1-year payback when solar power is used to support telematics operations.
They also went on to state with high confidence that a move to solar provides a return on investment in about two years when it supports a refrigerated application. Even solar-driven, battery-powered HVAC operations provide a payback within three years. In almost any application, solar power has been proven to provide a measurable positive impact on a trucking company’s bottom line.
According to a statement from NACFE executive director Mike Roeth, “What we found is it [solar power] does have a real good place here; cost has come down and durability has come up, that flexible mounting has really improved, as well as the performance of these panels. There are a lot of options for these solar packs. It’s really important to understand what the problem is you’re trying to solve for … and size those panels right for the use.”
If there is one certainty out of all this, it is that the sun is an unlimited, reliable resource that can be used to keep your batteries in peak performance. In addition to saving costs by going solar, trucking companies also burnish their renewable, sustainable, and green credentials. Solar power is reliable and can generally work in some of the harshest conditions.
As motor carriers around the world find ways to cut costs and gain greater operational efficiency, they will need to turn to new and innovative methods, such as adopting solar technologies. Solar can help companies do more than just break-even; they can help significantly improve operations.
from Quick Transport Solutions Trucking Blog https://ift.tt/2zOoFmI
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