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FleetMaintenance_July_2016

| Heavy Duty An end to dead vehicle batteries? By Steve Sturgess, Automotive Journalist It’s taking off in automobile engine stop-start systems as carmakers are seeking ways to reduce emissions and increase fuel economy by automatically shutting off the engine when the vehicle is at rest and restarting it when the driver lift s off the brake. Engine start-stop systems depend upon battery power to restart the engine as well as to keep electrical accessories. A CSS supplements battery power with ultracapacitors. Also known as supercapacitors, these are electrical components capable of holding hundreds of times more electrical charge quantity than a standard capacitor. What’s more, ultracapacitors are generally lighter than batteries. Heavy truck OEMs have begun investigating the adoption of ultracapacitor starting technology in their eff orts to meet the fi nal Phase 2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards and Fuel Effi ciency Standards for Medium and Heavy Duty Engines and Vehicles which takes eff ect next year. Ultracapacitors, when paired with batteries, immensely improve the reliability, effi ciency and power of diesel engines, say offi cials with Ioxus (www.ioxus.com), a developer and manufacturer of ultracapacitors and energy storage products. Ultracapacitors Ultracapacitor starting technology is taking a load off batteries Ultracapacitor starting is a technology that has been around for two decades, used extensively as standby power in electronics and power generation. Now, this technology looks ready for primetime. Fully productionized systems, with widespread distribution and mainstream installation, are making the battery-replacement capacitor starter system (CSS) a reality. With its inherent capabilities, ultracapacitor starting systems have the potential to eliminate the expensive downtime that truck drivers and fl eets often experience as a result of dead batteries, particularly in colder climates. Photo from iStock 16 FLEET MAINTENANCE ❚ JULY 2016 ❚ VehicleServicePros.com


FleetMaintenance_July_2016
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