Xtra Lease, a provider of over-the-road trailer equipment rental and leasing in North America, announced that it now is offering solar-sustained trailer-tracking service on reefers and flatbeds as part of a trailer lease package. Xtra Lease introduced a new solar-sustained tracking system on dry vans in 2007. The system includes a Web-based interface designed to enable customers to immediately hone in on trailer dormancy and utilization, providing greater fleet efficiency.
Xtra Lease says reefer tracking combines solar power with 7-way charging to help increase battery life, just like the dry van product, and because of the reefer engine’s position on the trailer front, the Xtra Lease tracking solution positions the solar power unit on the top edge of the trailer roof. For flatbeds, the company says it will install units on the main frame.
Xtra Lease also announced it is offering a one-way reefer monitoring service, which enables customers to receive vital information about the reefer unit’s operating status. From their desktop, customers can check a reefer’s current temperature and set point to see if there are any cautionary or critical alarms; according to the company, the reefer unit’s processor generates these alarms, which serve as a remote indicator that “something is wrong” and may cause the reefer unit to stop working. In addition, customers can receive e-mail alerts when temperatures fall outside of predetermined ranges or when the unit generates an alarm.
Xtra Lease says one-way monitoring enables customers to receive the following operating information about the reefer unit: mode (on or off), supply air temperature, fan speed, engine hours, engine status, battery voltage, operating status, fuel level (on properly equipped models), set point, and return air temperature.
“Our trailer-tracking system has provided dry van fleets much greater visibility of their rental and leased trailers,” says Bill Franz, chief executive officer and president of St. Louis-based Xtra Lease. “We’re proud to extend this performance and utilization tool to our refrigerated and flatbed trailer fleets, and to give managers of this equipment the same power to use trailer tracking at a new level. Our reefer and flatbed tracking product will deliver more advantages in the way fleets achieve greater efficiencies through trailer tracking.”
