Image: Trailer
Although the transport service provider Duvenbeck is located far north from a Central European perspective, sufficient sunshine is still expected. Ultra-thin solar mats have now been installed on two truck trailers to power the onboard electrical systems.
Duvenbeck, based in Bocholt, North Rhine-Westphalia, is testing the use of photovoltaics for powering commercial vehicles in collaboration with the BMW Group. The solar power generated by the photovoltaic cells flows into the tractor units' batteries and supplies electricity for the alternator. While seemingly not a massively significant contribution, it is nonetheless a signaling project. Thanks to the solar power, the alternator requires less fuel to generate electricity, which also results in a reduction of climate-damaging carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Photo: Duvenbeck
Furthermore, feeding solar power into the grid reduces the load on the vehicle battery and extends its lifespan. Data on the amount of electricity generated by the solar panels, transmitted telematically by the system dubbed "Trailar," can be accessed via a web-based platform.
The test vehicles are two vehicle combinations with low-deck trailers and different drive technologies from Iveco. One is conventionally powered by diesel fuel, the other by LNG. Duvenbeck uses both vehicle combinations for the just-in-time supply of the BMW Group. They operate daily on the same long-distance route between the BMW engine plant in Steyr (Austria) and the BMW production site in Regensburg (Germany).
Image: Aldi UK / Trailer
“As a technology-neutral logistics partner to the automotive industry, we share responsibility for achieving climate goals. Therefore, supporting BMW’s initiative to keep transport emissions across the entire supply chain as low as possible was a given for us,” explains Bernd Reining, Fleet Manager at Duvenbeck. Depending on the results, the trials could also incentivize the equipping of more vehicles with solar panels. With more than 6,000 employees at over 33 locations in eight countries, Duvenbeck is one of Europe’s leading logistics companies.
Photo: Trailer
Photovoltaic supplier "Trailar" is also equipping buses, vans belonging to a pharmaceutical supplier, and even refuse collection vehicles in Stockton, UK, with its solar panels. According to the manufacturer, Aldi, with its 40,000 employees and 990 supermarkets supplied in Great Britain, is equipping all new trailers with the solar panels as standard in order to reduce the discounter's overall CO2 footprint.
According to studies conducted elsewhere by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE), which carried out tests with irradiance sensors some time ago as part of a project called "PV2go", a 40-ton truck with approximately 38 m² of photovoltaic roof area can achieve yields of an average of 150 kWh/m² over the period of one year, assuming an efficiency of 18% for the solar system.
Irradiation tests at the ISE
Commercial vehicles (e.g., trucks and buses) require particularly lightweight and thin PV modules to avoid reducing the vehicles' payload. The lightweight modules developed at Fraunhofer ISE are especially suitable for box bodies with large roof areas.
