Genie Insights, a leading supplier of solar panels to the cold chain transport sector, has launched a calculator which shows operators how much money they could save by installing a 50 watt solar panel to their trailer fleets.
Genie Insights has calculated how much fridge battery related breakdowns and premature battery replacements could be costing UK and Irish temperature-controlled transport operators. The company has launched a calculator that provides operators with an indication of how much they could save over their fleets’ lifetime by installing one of the company’s solar panels. By inputting just a few details, the calculator provides a total potential saving in battery replacements and in reduced breakdowns.
The calculator shows that an operator with a fleet of 200 refrigerated trailers could potentially save £192,000 over the lifetime of the entire fleet.
Matt Reeve of Genie Insights said: “When we ask customers if they have ever looked at the problem of flat battery related costs within their refrigerated fleets, most of them either didn’t realise they had a problem or just accepted these costs because they’ve never had a way of mitigating them before now.”
By adding a solar panel to the roof of a temperature-controlled trailer, the fridge battery can be ‘trickle charged’ to keep the battery constantly topped up.
As well as the improved fleet uptime and reliability achieved by mitigating breakdowns; battery health is also protected giving a longer battery life and there is an environmental benefit due to less replacement batteries being needed over the fleet’s lifetime.
With the installation of a Genie Insights high efficiency 50 watt solar panel adding just a nominal amount to a trailer that costs anywhere between £40k and £60k, depending on the trailer spec, Genie Insights’ customers explain that it is a “no brainer”.
And it seems operators can benefit no matter what size of fleet they operate. For example, a fleet of just 10 trailers could save £9,600 and a fleet of 1,000 trailers could potentially save £960,000 over the lifetime of the fleet.
To try the calculator, please visit: https://www.genieinsights.com/fridge-trailer-calculator/.
