Power Through The Winter With Solar Panels

When you think of solar panels, you might envision a bright sunny day with warm temperatures. Believe it or not, solar is a great option during the winter months.

Battery support in cold weather

It’s a widespread misconception that solar panels are not effective during the winter season. It’s true that cold temps can add strain to batteries on your transportation equipment. However, solar panels are designed to convert sunlight into electricity all year round and do not require full sun to maintain efficiency.

Sunlight can filter through light snow and the reflective properties of snow may even amplify the output. With tens of thousands of solar panels currently on large and small trucks, they have been proven to be financially viable for fleets and a solution to improve operations and profitability.

The adoption of ThermoLite® solar panels provides significant ROI for fleets by:

They have been designed, tested, field verified, and are the only automotive-rated solar system in the marketplace.

Solar power is a crucial asset to any trailer refrigeration unit (TRU). Benefits include:

• Offset telematics and controller parasitic load
• Significantly improve battery life
• Greater uptime and asset utilization
• Fuel savings
• Reduced maintenance expenses 
• Reduce low battery alarms

But they aren’t just for TRUs. Solar panels can support school and transit buses, construction equipment, agriculture, and airline ground support equipment, golf carts—essentially anything with a battery. Not to mention the benefits to auxiliary power units (APUs). Install solar panels and you can enjoy up to a 30% reduction in APU runtime for lower fuel consumption, and fewer battery-related and maintenance costs.

When using a Heat King® trailer heater to keep products from freezing in subzero weather, solar panels can assist in maintaining battery health during the off-season. They also eliminate pre-season battery replacements and offer uptime and asset utilization.

When it gets chilly outside, liftgates on small and large trucks get a power boost from solar panels too. You can greatly increase battery life, so you have increased uptime and reduced maintenance expenses. They also increase liftgate reliability and reduce fuel expenses.

The time to go solar is now

Winter is here and solar is the answer to keeping your equipment powered up and on the move. ThermoLite solar panels are offered in three sizes — 30W, 40W, and 110W — which are applicable for almost any need.