Examination of a solar-powered freezer truck with connected vehicle technology

For conventional freezer trucks, engines are required to run during both driving and parking to power the freezer units. It causes emissions and noise. A solar-powered freezer truck is developed in this article to eliminate emissions and considerably reduce noise. Multiple energy inputs and energy systems are proposed to offer flexible energy control for energy management. The multiple energy inputs include solar energy, the onboard battery energy, the off-board plug-in AC energy, and the external battery energy from another electric vehicle for testing the connected vehicle function. Furthermore, an optimal energy management strategy is proposed to ensure reliable operation of the freezer unit, maximize the photovoltaic (PV) output power, maintain the high-efficiency operation of the energy system, and extend the service lifetime of the onboard battery. The energy design formulation is presented in this article. The development of the solar-powered freezer truck was verified by the experimental results of the prototype. Therefore, this article is significantly valuable for the application of solar-powered refrigeration/freezer trucks and ways to extend energy usage using connected vehicle technology.