Carriers’ Interest in APUs Is Growing

By Bruce Harmon, Managing Editor

This story appears in the Nov. 5 print edition of Transport Topics. Click here to subscribe today.

ORLANDO, Fla. — With idling restrictions increasing in states and localities around the country, carriers are increasingly interested in buying systems that will allow drivers to keep their truck cabs cool or heated and to operate electrical “hotel” appliances such as televisions or computers, several vendors at American Trucking Associations’ Management Conference & Exhibition here said.

The units, generically referred to as “auxiliary power units” usually consist of a small diesel engine driving a generator and air conditioner. But other systems use electrical power from batteries charged by the alternator on the truck engine, fuel-powered space heaters and thermal storage units that function essentially as a large block of ice.

RigMaster Power Corp., whose APU uses a 2-cylinder, 14-horsepower diesel engine, has about 25% of the APU market and enjoyed good traffic at its booth during MCE, said Amy Egerter, marketing and communications manager for the Toronto, Ontario, company.

RigMaster’s unit weighs 432 pounds and costs about $7,500 installed on a truck, she said.

A major problem facing manufacturers such as RigMaster is a California Air Resources Board regulation, set to go into effect Jan. 1 and requiring all trucks running in the state and using APUs with a separate engine to have a diesel particulate filter if the truck is a 2007 or later model.

Egerter said that RigMaster’s 2008 units will comply with the California APU regulation but that CARB has not yet certified the company’s equipment. She said RigMaster’s request for certification went to CARB in August and that the units are now being tested. She said she had “no idea” when they would be approved, but the company expected certification by Jan. 1.

Truck stop operator Flying J of Ogden, Utah, also offers an APU, said Bruce Davis, market development director for transportation enterprise systems. Flying J’s “Cab Comfort System” mounts on the truck rail and is powered by a 2-cylinder Kubota engine driving a 3,000-watt generator, he said.

With diesel fuel costing $3 a gallon, Flying J’s unit would save about $550 a month by allowing drivers to turn off their engines while parked at a truck stop, he said.

Davis said Flying J’s CCS “is compliant in 48 states” but faces the same problem as RigMaster with CARB’s 2008 regulation.

“No one has an APU solution that qualifies,” Davis said. “We’re working diligently to have one by Jan. 1. He said the DPFs, or soot filters, the regulation requires “are costly and take a lot of retrofitting and redesign.”

He said truck OEMs are “strongly opposed” to running an APU’s exhaust through their trucks’ DPFs, because it would affect the units’ sensors and emissions output.

One system that would not face the same problem is the “Idle Free System” that Mack Trucks uses, said Jerry Warmkessel, marketing product manager for Mack highway products.

He said Mack uses a “hybrid” system with a variety of power sources: It can be plugged into 120-volt “shore power” at a truck stop offering electrical connections to drive air conditioning and cab appliances. That system, combined with a Webasto fuel-fired heater, can keep the cab cool or warm.

The shore power connection or the truck engine’s generator recharges several batteries, including absorbed glass mat batteries that can be mounted under the bed in the sleeper because, unlike convention lead-acid batteries, they emit no gases, Warmkessel said.

He said Volvo trucks, owned like Mack by Volvo AB, uses a similar system but that Mack’s system is more powerful at a 10,000-BTU rating, compared with Volvo’s 3,000 BTU.

With the AGM batteries, Mack’s system can meet the Technology & Maintenance Council’s recommendation that cab-cooling units should be able to keep a cab at 78 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 hours in 100 degrees ambient temperature.

Mack’s system also can plug into refrigeration units if the truck is pulling a reefer trailer.

Webasto Product North America Inc., Fenton, Mich., in addition to making products other manufacturers include in their systems, also sells units directly to fleets, said Joseph Kirby, sales manager for heavy-duty thermo products.

Webasto’s “BlueCool Truck, the No-Idle Bunk Cooler” system freezes a water-graphite matrix, through which cab coolant runs in pipes. “It’s like a big ice cube,” Kirby said.  When the truck is running, the unit’s cooling system freezes the water, and the graphite is compressed, keeping the expansion of the cooled water from cracking the case.

Webasto’s system includes a fuel-powered heater, which can heat the cab and engine coolant, keeping the engine block warm, so it can start in cold weather.

All told, it weighs 350 pounds and is emissions-free, avoiding the problem other APU products face in California in 2008. The Webasto system costs $3,500 retail, plus installation. Kirby said Kenworth Truck Company uses Webasto’s system in its Clean Power System.

Other manufacturers showing APU products at MCE were Carrier Corp., Farmington, Conn., and Thermo King Corp., Minneapolis, which also make trailer refrigeration units.