World premiere: ADAC TruckService launches breakdown-free future for cooling trailers

To mark the IAA Commercial Vehicles, ADAC TruckService has launched a telematics-based breakdown prevention service for cooling trailers. In a real-world test, the estimated annual saving of 500 euros per cooling trailer was reached after just three months.

Advertisement

Many providers can evaluate telematics data, but only one provider can simultaneously evaluate the data from all systems and provide Europe-wide assistance when something happens – before a breakdown actually occurs. After one year of development work, the ADAC TruckService portfolio now comprises not only roadside assistance but also breakdown prevention.

"Breakdown-free driving is a question of attitude; the technology has already been available for quite some time. 20 years from now, we will be asking ourselves why, for so long, we were willing to simply accept burst tyres, burning trucks or the destruction of goods worth hundreds of thousands of euros because of a defective cooling machine", said Christoph Walter, Chairman of the Management Board of ADAC TruckService at the market launch in Hannover.

The digital service is now available for cooling trailers. This is a segment in which the main aim is often not just to prevent a breakdown but also to protect the contents of the trailer. In order to ensure that breakdowns are more reliably prevented, all the fleet operator has to do is transfer the telematics data of the cooling machine to a neutral platform, where this data will be technically interpreted by an algorithm developed by ADAC TruckService. If the readings rise above or fall below the target values, the vehicle owner is given recommendations for action based on a traffic light system. "Green" indicates deviation from the target value, "amber" means the vehicle needs to go to the repair workshop, and "red" tells the operator to stop the trip. A repair service is organised on request.

The first phase of the real-world test using 432 cooling trailers underlines the benefits of digital breakdown prevention. In the period from May to August, 184 error messages for cooling trailers were analysed and the recommendations for action fine-tuned in such a way that warning messages are not issued prematurely or too late but exactly at the right time.

"After just three months, we prevented consequential damage of around 200,000 euros to cooling machines, not including the potential damage to the shipment", says Walter, adding that the reduction in the number of breakdowns and lower wear and maintenance costs meant that actual savings in practice far exceeded the initial forecast of 500 euros per trailer and year.

The digital breakdown prevention concept is particularly suitable for commercial vehicle fleets with trailer telematics as well as component and trailer manufacturers who want to add effective breakdown prevention to their telematics systems. The service can be used in combination with all standard telematics systems. Following completion of the second test phase, the plan is to extend the concept step by step to tyres and brakes: tractor units are to follow in 2018.