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I'd like to see the financials for this from a haulage operators perspective; payback period, return on investment etc Also would be cool to see the sums if so

I'd like to see the financials for this from a haulage operators perspective; payback period, return on investment etc Also would be cool to see the sums if solar panels were added to the equation

ggm 3y ago
Unless a rig spends significant time not moving in daylight, I suspect the tow cost and other inputs to a PV attached to the rig is above the ROI for power. It might mean the cabin AC can run when its parked, and keep things humane. It might supplement a refrigerated intermodal and prevent engine run-on so be good for noise. I doubt it would extend range much. Happy to be proved wrong. E.g. the entire truck-top surface area with an integrated trailer might be enough to make sufficient KW to be worth doing.
- blessedwhiskers 3y ago
  Trailers certainly spend more time sitting around than the trucks do during loading/unloading times, so if you put the panels on the trailer you would improve the ROI, although I’m not an expert on trucking and don’t know how long trailers tend to sit idle. I suspect adding PV panels would have another issue, however, which is they’re frequently stacked on top of one another in shipping yards, etc. PV paneled trailers would likely not be stackable, and therefore containers would need to be repackaged for storage or transport outside trucking (IE a container ship wouldn’t be able to just drop a container on to a truck to ferry it, it’d need to be reloaded).
dreamcompiler 3y ago
Top surface area of a semi trailer is around 42 square meters, given a trailer width of 102" and length of 53'. It's typical to get around 250W per square meter from PV in ideal conditions, so that's 10.5kW. It takes about 15kW to push a Tesla down the highway at 60mph, so 10.5kW is not a negligible amount. (Pushing a semi down the highway at 60mph takes a lot more because it's much heavier and has a much larger frontal area.) So this is definitely not enough to power the vehicle going down the road, but it is enough to add significantly to its range. Again, assuming the truck is driving down the road at high noon during the summer and there are no clouds. PV doesn't work for cars because they don't have enough surface area, but it is a reasonable idea for a semi trailer.
- bradfa 3y ago
  Trailers are also often parked for a while so could be a viable recharge scenario for the trailer batteries.
  - m4rtink 3y ago
    It could also cover other energy uses on the trailer, such as refrigeration, ventilation or position reporting/telemetry.
- pinkgolem 3y ago
  Pepsi sites 1.7 kWh per mile on short distance delivery with the Tesla semi That would mean a power use of around a 100kwh while driving 60 mph. That would extend the range by about 10% that's less then I would have expected, but still could make sense depending on the standing time.
  - dreamcompiler 3y ago
    100kw, not 100kwh. But I take your meaning, and your factor of 6.7 for the amount of power/energy a semi uses vs a Tesla sounds reasonable.

I'd like to see the financials for this from a haulage operators perspective; payback period, return on investment etc Also would be cool to see the sums if solar panels were added to the equation

ggm 3y ago

Unless a rig spends significant time not moving in daylight, I suspect the tow cost and other inputs to a PV attached to the rig is above the ROI for power. It might mean the cabin AC can run when its parked, and keep things humane. It might supplement a refrigerated intermodal and prevent engine run-on so be good for noise. I doubt it would extend range much. Happy to be proved wrong. E.g. the entire truck-top surface area with an integrated trailer might be enough to make sufficient KW to be worth doing.

blessedwhiskers 3y ago
Trailers certainly spend more time sitting around than the trucks do during loading/unloading times, so if you put the panels on the trailer you would improve the ROI, although I’m not an expert on trucking and don’t know how long trailers tend to sit idle. I suspect adding PV panels would have another issue, however, which is they’re frequently stacked on top of one another in shipping yards, etc. PV paneled trailers would likely not be stackable, and therefore containers would need to be repackaged for storage or transport outside trucking (IE a container ship wouldn’t be able to just drop a container on to a truck to ferry it, it’d need to be reloaded).

dreamcompiler 3y ago

Top surface area of a semi trailer is around 42 square meters, given a trailer width of 102" and length of 53'. It's typical to get around 250W per square meter from PV in ideal conditions, so that's 10.5kW. It takes about 15kW to push a Tesla down the highway at 60mph, so 10.5kW is not a negligible amount. (Pushing a semi down the highway at 60mph takes a lot more because it's much heavier and has a much larger frontal area.) So this is definitely not enough to power the vehicle going down the road, but it is enough to add significantly to its range. Again, assuming the truck is driving down the road at high noon during the summer and there are no clouds. PV doesn't work for cars because they don't have enough surface area, but it is a reasonable idea for a semi trailer.

bradfa 3y ago
Trailers are also often parked for a while so could be a viable recharge scenario for the trailer batteries.
- m4rtink 3y ago
  It could also cover other energy uses on the trailer, such as refrigeration, ventilation or position reporting/telemetry.
pinkgolem 3y ago
Pepsi sites 1.7 kWh per mile on short distance delivery with the Tesla semi That would mean a power use of around a 100kwh while driving 60 mph. That would extend the range by about 10% that's less then I would have expected, but still could make sense depending on the standing time.
- dreamcompiler 3y ago
  100kw, not 100kwh. But I take your meaning, and your factor of 6.7 for the amount of power/energy a semi uses vs a Tesla sounds reasonable.