Clarios Connected Services, the fleet- and commercial vehicle-facing side of Clarios’ battery business, is bringing its cab-based Battery Manager technology to trailer battery systems. Particularly suitable for refrigerated trailers and trailers equipped with liftgates, the Trailer Battery Manager can provide real-time insights into trailer battery health and charge status behind the fifth wheel.
In liftgate applications, disconnected trailer batteries and trailers that sit idle so long the batteries discharge are two common reasons for liftgate failures. Inevitably, those battery failures will be realized at the customer receiving dock. “We can identify both of these very easily and notify the driver or a decision maker to take action,” said Cagatay Topcu, vice president of Clarios Connected Services unit. “We can notify the driver that the trailer wiring isn’t connected or tell the yard manager which trailers have a low state of charge to improve their efficiencies.”
In refrigerated operations, stable power supply is critical for operating refrigeration units on trailers that carry food and pharmaceuticals. By monitoring battery health and charge status in real time, fleet operators can ensure that cooling systems run continuously and temperature requirements are met to reduce the risk of delivery failures and protects product integrity.
A trailer battery failure can cost as much as $700 per incident when trailer batteries fail. “We are preventing costly services for fleets because if the two trailer batteries are low, the only solution is to put two new batteries on, and we are completely eliminating that,” said Topcu.
Trailer Battery Manager will be available alongside Battery Manager and other idle reduction technologies as part of Clarios' subscription-based, software-as-a-service model.
