With the increasing costs of maintenance and parts scarcity across the board, more fleets are turning to technology with self-sustaining qualities. Recently, Velociti Inc. announced a partnership with Merlin Solar to assist fleets in doing so. Through its Instant ROI program, Velociti allows fleets to use the ROI from using solar power to pay for the solution while bringing forth savings on fuel, extending battery life, and reducing overall carbon footprint.

“[Solar] technology saves fuel, reduces battery, starter and alternator costs, effectively eliminating jump starts, extending battery life, increasing reliability and minimizing the effect of parasitic loads,” said Ryan Powell, SVP Sales at Velociti Inc.

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) has noted that solar panels can maintain batteries at a higher rate of charge, enabling batteries that might not be able to keep up with a truck’s power needs to charge at any opportunity.

Solar panels are growing increasingly accessible as well. Beyond developments making solar panels thinner and more flexible overall, Merlin’s latest editions are 80% lighter than glass systems, saving 20 percent more energy in real world conditions.

Solar solutions are proving to be the next wave of transportation technology, helping fleets control costs and improve efficiencies. Not only is it useful for supplying energy to parts of the vehicle that normally would be powered by the battery, but it extends the runtime of battery HVAC systems while also reducing the load on the alternator and resulting in fuel savings. Switching to solar also reduces idling time and extends the life of a transportation asset, all additional ways to control expenditures.