External Power Air-Conditioning System for Trucks to Begin Operation

Tokyo Electric Power Co. announced on June 7, 2007 that the company will begin commercial operation of an air-conditioning system for parked trucks that uses an external power source, with the aim of preventing truck drivers from keeping engines idling.

About 530,000 of the total 740,000 heavy trucks in Japan are used for commercial purposes. Drivers of commercial trucks tend to keep their engines idling for sustained periods of time to rest or sleep, or to continuously run air-conditioning systems in the drivers' cabin when they park. For that reason, avoiding such engine idling is one of the most crucial measures to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the transport sector.

The new system consists of air-conditioning apparatus mounted near the driver's seat, and power supply equipment installed in parking lots. Deriving power from the external power source, the air-conditioning apparatus cools or heats the driver's cabin without running the engine.

After a series of demonstration experiments beginning in 2005, Tokyo Electric Power confirmed that the new system reduces both CO2 emissions and fuel costs by about 98 percent, as compared with conventional air-conditioning systems powered by the truck engine. Starting in August 2007, the company will sequentially introduce 50 units of the power supply equipment, which will be capable of feeding 100 vehicles in total, in seven Truck Stations (rest facilities for commercial truck drivers) operated by the Truck Business Promotion Center.

http://www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html

Posted: 2007/10/11 11:26:48 PM
Japanese version