How solar energy reduces truck downtime
Fleet downtime is one of the biggest challenges fleet managers face in the transportation and logistics industry. Every moment a vehicle is out of service due to maintenance, repairs, or breakdowns results in lost revenue, higher expenses, and damage to the company’s reputation.
Three major contributors to downtime are energy shortages, drained batteries, and broken cables. Solar energy provides a sustainable solution. By installing solar panels on trailers, fleets ensure a constant and uninterrupted power supply, keeping trucks running and reducing downtime.
In this article, we’ll explain the common causes of downtime and how solar energy helps reduce it. We'll also share real examples of how solar power on trucks and trailers can increase uptime.
Common causes of fleet downtime in the transport and logistics sector
At IM Efficiency, we have worked for 10 years with various transport and logistics companies across Europe. Three common challenges consistently emerge with fleet managers:
- • Energy shortages
- • Drained batteries
- • Broken cables
1. Energy shortages
Trucks and trailers today are equipped with a variety of electrical systems like electric liftgates, pallet jacks, forklifts, tail lifts, movable floors, HVAC systems, lights, and entertainment systems. These systems require a lot of power, which is typically drawn from the truck’s battery or engine.
Keeping these systems charged is crucial to ensure basic functions like loading, unloading, and driving run smoothly. However, due to high energy consumption, trucks often need an external power source to keep their batteries charged, which leads to:
- • Plugging the truck into an external power supply
- • Idling the engine to recharge the battery
Impact of energy shortages
- • Delayed deliveries: Waiting for the truck to recharge leads to longer loading/unloading times.
- • Unhappy customers: Customers expect on-time deliveries, and delays harm relationships.
- • Increased idle time: Trucks spend more time stationary instead of on the road.
- • Higher fuel consumption: Prolonged idling increases fuel usage.
- • CO₂ emissions: Idling the engine to generate power is highly polluting and harmful to the environment.
- • Compliance challenges: Companies face difficulties in meeting operational targets.
- • Unsatisfied drivers: Energy shortages affect the functionality of hotel loads (e.g., HVAC, lights, entertainment), making the drivers' work environment uncomfortable.
2. Drained batteries
Electrical systems rely on the truck’s or trailer's battery to function. When the truck is in use, the engine charges the battery, ensuring it stays charged at a healthy voltage.
However, problems arise when trucks are parked for extended periods, whether at distribution centers, rest stops, or overnight during long-haul trips.
When the truck is parked, many of its systems continue to run. For example, the driver might use lights, heating or cooling, and entertainment equipment while taking breaks. Additionally, during loading or unloading, systems like tail lifts use the battery to operate while the truck is parked in the distribution center.
Impact of drained batteries
- • Unexpected breakdowns: Trucks with dead batteries can’t start, causing unplanned downtime.
- • Costly replacements: Repeated battery drain shortens battery life, increasing maintenance expenses.
- • Component damage: Drained batteries may damage other components.
- • Emergency service costs: When a truck cannot start due to a drained battery, emergency service is needed to replace the battery.
3. Broken cables
Another frequent cause of downtime is broken or damaged cables that connect the truck’s electrical system to the trailer. These cables are essential for delivering power from the truck to the trailer’s electrical devices, such as tail lifts, refrigeration units, and lights.
Impact of broken cables
- • Loss of power to the trailer: When cables break, essential trailer systems like tail lifts, refrigeration units, and lighting lose power, making loading, unloading, and transporting goods more difficult.
- • Operational delays: Drivers may be forced to stop and wait for emergency repairs or find alternative ways to power the trailer, leading to unexpected downtime and late deliveries.
How to reduce downtime with solar energy
Solar energy is a reliable and sustainable power source that solves these problems. By installing solar panels on trailers, your vehicle continuously generates power directly from the sun and keeps your fleet running smoothly. Here’s how solar energy addresses the most common causes of downtime:
- • Uninterrupted power supply
- • Battery charging
- • Independent power source
1. Uninterrupted power supply
Installing solar panels on the roof of trailers ensures a constant supply of energy directly from the sun. This energy powers essential electrical equipment ensuring that batteries stay charged even when the truck’s engine is off or the vehicle is parked at night.
However, not all solar systems can distribute energy to both trucks and trailers. For example, the onboard solar technology SolarOnTop has an intelligent energy management system that efficiently allocates power to the truck and/or trailer based on their specific needs, using a smart algorithm.
For instance, when the driver is loading goods, the SolarOnTop prioritizes power to the tail lift to optimize energy use. During periods when electrical devices aren't in use, SolarOnTop redirects energy to the truck to assist the alternator, reducing the load on the engine and improving fuel efficiency.
Use case:
IM Efficiency’s customer delivers goods to different shops in the Netherlands daily, making multiple stops to unload merchandise. Previously, the fleet manager struggled to keep the tail lift running without interruption during the loading/unloading process.
To address this challenge, the fleet manager had five options:
- • Keep the truck idling while unloading to keep the tail lift operational.
- • Charge the battery from an external source, which is not always possible due to the limited availability of electric chargers.
- • When the battery is depleted, the driver stops the unloading process and idles until it is recharged.
- • If the battery is dead from repeated draining and the tail lift is not working, they must replace the battery. This process takes time until the new battery arrives and the replacement is completed.
- • If the battery dies while the vehicle is far from its base, the fleet manager will need emergency service, which is costly and causes significant delays.
All of these solutions resulted in delays, increased maintenance expenses, reduced battery lifespan, higher fuel consumption, and more CO₂ emissions.
With the integration of SolarOnTop, solar energy now efficiently powers the tail lift battery, keeping it continuously charged. This means fewer stops, faster unloading, and reduced expenses for battery replacements and repairs.
“In the first year we already see that the SolarOnTop is delivering 60-70% of the energy demand. This way the alternator is running less hours what also means a higher uptime for our trucks and batteries.”
- Heisterkamp Transport b.v, Chief operating officer.
2. Battery charging
Solar energy keeps your battery charged, especially when using onboard solar technologies with an extra battery for storage. This ensures you always have enough power, even when the truck is not exposed to sunlight.
For example, SolarOnTop includes an extra lithium battery that continuously charges the trailer’s battery, regardless of the time of day or weather conditions. Any excess energy generated by the solar panels during the day is stored in the SolarOnTop lithium battery, ensuring that essential devices remain powered and battery levels stay optimal for uninterrupted operation.
Expert insight
The SolarOnTop lithium battery is designed to handle numerous charge/discharge cycles and can be safely discharged up to 80%, unlike truck batteries advised not to go below 50%. Serving as a backup power source, the SolarOnTop lithium battery ensures a continuous power supply, keeping truck batteries always charged.
Use case
IM Efficiency’s customer loads its trailer daily at the distribution center. The trailers remain parked in front of the dock doors for loading while the truck departs for its next stop.
However, during this operation, the trailer sometimes lacks sufficient energy to power the tail lift for loading all the goods. As a result, the IM Efficiency customer needs to connect the trailer to a truck to get power or charge the tail lift battery. Both of these solutions cause delays and reduce the battery’s lifespan.
With the installation of SolarOnTop technology, the trailer becomes self-powered, eliminating the need for an external power source or the truck engine. The SolarOnTop ensures that the tail lift battery remains consistently charged, even during periods of low sunlight, thanks to the SolarOnTop lithium battery.
Independent power source
Solar energy is an independent power source. The sun is a risk-free and continuous energy provider—the sun always shines. If cables are broken and the truck cannot deliver energy to the trailer battery, solar can still power the trailer and ensure that all electrical devices within it remain functional.
This reduces downtime and ensures that operations run smoothly. Relying on solar energy provides reliability for every operation, delivering a consistent and predictable power
SolarOnTop's impact on fleet operations
1. Increased revenue
Late deliveries directly impact revenue streams as unhappy customers may turn to competitors, leading to lost sales and a damaged brand reputation. SolarOnTop's continuous power supply guarantees timely deliveries and keeping customers happy and loyal.
2. Cost savings
By ensuring your electrical devices and batteries are always charged, SolarOnTop reduces unexpected breakdowns, emergency repairs, maintenance costs, and the need for rental replacement vehicles. This drives down expenses and improves overall operational efficiency.
3. Driver satisfaction
Happy drivers are productive drivers. With reduced downtime, drivers can focus on their tasks without the frustration of unexpected breakdowns and the need to adapt to a new delivery schedule. Additionally, by keeping all the hotel loads devices always charged without the need to idle or the disruption of the idle alarm, drivers rest better, which increases their performance.
“Thanks to SolarOnTop, our driver experiences a less stressful workweek, and our diesel fuel consumption has decreased, resulting in lower CO₂ emissions.”
- Van Rijnsbergen, Business Owner.
4. Safety
When operations are delayed, there's often a temptation to rush and make up for lost time. But with SolarOnTop keeping your fleet running smoothly, you can maintain safety protocols without compromising on efficiency. Furthermore, the risk of accidents and damages is reduced, as well-rested drivers remain alert.
5. Sustainability
SolarOnTop reduces the fleet’s carbon footprint by minimizing fuel consumption during idling, leading to lower CO₂ emissions. By harnessing the power of solar energy, fleets become more environmentally friendly, contributing to long-term sustainability goals.
