Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/82527
OLDER INVENTORY ing extended periods on-duty, but without enough drive time left for the alternator to fully recharge them before shutting down. Paul Barbaros, general manager for APUs for Thermo King, which offers both diesel and electric systems with its TriPac brands, notes that "with any electric APU you have a captive amount of air-conditioning capacity. We are all tuning them to be as efficient as possible. But if you are in a place with extreme ambi- ent temperature, like 110 degrees in Death Valley, the all-electric system is going to struggle to keep the driver as comfortable as he is used to. One other constraint of an electric APU is you cannot do your 34-hour reset on the road and expect cooling for the entire time." "I don't think the all-electric fits every driver," Gordon says. "We have run time of about eight hours [before batteries need to be recharged] – sometimes more, sometimes less. That depends on several things, like whether they are running an inverter, how hot it is outside, whether they pre-cooled the truck. There are a lot of factors that go into it. If driv- ers are going to be sitting for days at a time and don't have a plug-in, it probably wouldn't be a good applica- tion for them." On the flip side, going with a diesel-powered unit still requires fuel, though it's a fraction used during engine idling. These systems require regular maintenance, and compo- nents may have to be repaired or replaced during the lifecycle of the APU, which adds to the overall cost of ownership. "There are inherent maintenance issues that come with diesel-powered APU systems compared to an electri- fied system," Gordon says. "It has belts and its own system of fluids. There is also a noise issue. And in California, it's going to have to have a [diesel particulate filter]. With the 30 | Overdrive | October 2012 Fuel savings* Hours idling: Fuel price: x $4 50 Cost to idle: $200 Based on idling an average 50 hours a week, a battery-powered APU would save the entire weekly idling expense of $200. A diesel-powered APU, using 0.2 gallon per hour over those 50 hours, would cost $40 ($200 x 0.2) to operate over 50 hours, yielding a savings of $160. Thermo King offers its TriPac units in both diesel-powered and electric-based models. They have standard BTU ratings at 13,000 for cooling and 7,500 for heating, with an optional 13,600- BTU package for extreme cold weather hauling. electrified system, we simply have a filter that needs to be changed and batteries that need to be replaced." Performance, dependability, service intervals and warranties are important factors in selecting an APU, says Dan Koch, president and CEO of Tridako, maker of the PowerCube APU. "It's a much easier conversation than it used to be," Koch says, add- ing that customers are much better educated about idling solutions than just a few years ago. "We usually can jump right into the specifics of what they are after. We like those conversations. It's no longer, 'What's an APU?'" Determining your return on investment *Does not include maintenance cost, r epairs or replacement parts. For more information Arctic Breeze: ArcticBreeze-TruckAC.com Dynasys: Hodyon.com Espar: Espar.com Go Green APU (Adam model): GoGreenAPU.com HP2000: hp2000apu.com Idle Free: Idlefreesystems.com Nite: us.bergstrominc.com/nite-no-idle PowerCube: Tridako.com TriPac: Thermoking.com/tripac Webasto: Webasto.us Willis: WillisAPU.com How long it takes to recoup the money you shell out for an APU can vary considerably. First ask yourself how much you idle per day. The more idling hours you can do away with, the quicker the return on investment. With a system costing $8,500 to $10,000, a good payback would be less than 24 months. Or even 18 months if you are running hard Nite's battery-based system has two after- market models, the Nite Plus and Nite Phoenix, both with options including Espar or Webasto fuel-fired heaters.