IM Efficiency wants to equip trucks with solar panels. The Dutch startup is working on a patented system for solar panels on semi-trailers. This should ensure savings in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.
The so-called SolarOnTop system will provide fuel savings of 5.5 per cent, according to IM Efficiency. The alternator no longer needs to generate power while driving and the engine is under less load. As a result, trucks consume an average of 2,300 litres of diesel less per year, saving 6 tonnes of CO2.
Covering all 143,000 trucks in the Netherlands with solar panels could save 860 kilotonnes of CO2 annually, 2.9 per cent of total emissions from Dutch road traffic.
Pilots in 2020
IM Efficiency, which is supported in part by European Union innovation programmes, will start two pilots at transport companies next year. The startup wants to equip as many Dutch trailers as possible with solar panels and then expand to other European countries. "We will start with this in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and then move on to southern Europe, where the business case is even better," said IM Efficiency CEO Martijn Ildiz.
