Phillips Connect is bringing its trailer telematics technology to the front door of North American fleet operations with its state-of-the-art, solar-powered tech trailer. This trailer showcases and demonstrates its complete offering of smart-trailer solutions that the company noted have helped many fleets increase uptime, maximize their efficiencies, increase ROIs, and reduce CSA violations.
Jim Epler, Phillips Connect’s EVP, is traveling along with the trailer across the country to schedule private consultations with commercial fleet operations, giving them the unique opportunity to experience Phillips Connect’s complete product suite. Epler is meeting with customers in the high-tech trailer to learn in-depth about their unique needs and collaborate with them to tailor the best solution for their operation. Live demos are also conducted to pull data from the devices and visually demonstrate it through the Connect1 user interface in real time.
“This allows for a more personalized experience and enables us to truly understand the needs of the fleet,” Epler said. “Since starting these visits, we’ve already seen major success from this program."
The photovoltaic power system was included to reduce carbon emission and power the vehicle with clean energy as the motor coach/trailer goes down the road. Phillips has partnered with Merlin Solar for the panels and Stealth Power for power module management, via its Stealth Intelligence solution.
“Stealth Intelligence is being used to monitor the power that is generated by the solar panels on the roof, the amount of power that is being used by the trailer, the status of the power modules, and other important metrics," said Tres Hill, CTO of Stealth Power. "The information that is collected is then being displayed using a secure web application framework that can be accessed from a wide variety of different devices.”
Merlin's contribution was the flexible, aerodynamic, and easy-to-install solar kits. The solar panels on top of the trailer powers 10 LiFePO4 batteries that in turn power the tech trailer, along with the 45' motor coach pulling it.
“Even though the solar panels are installed horizontally and vertically on the trailer, Merlin delivers the highest amount of energy in all weather conditions," said Venkatesan Murali, founder and CTO of Merlin Solar.
The trailer also showcases Phillips Industries’ back-of-cab solutions, as well as solutions from its exclusive partners: Sensata, Bendix, and Velociti. With Sensata’s intelligent sensor technology, Bendix’s industry-leading braking solutions, and Velociti’s smart trailer installations, customers will have the ability to hand-select the package that will help deliver their fleets the highest ROI.
This article originally appeared in FleetMaintenance.com.