Transport company invests in solar and increases the useful life of vehicle batteries

A Forward Brazil, a group that operates in the road logistics segment of fuels and refrigerated products throughout the national territory and in Mercosur, acquired solar panels from the Intelbras for your fleet, seeking improve the mechanical part of trucks and reducing energy consumption.

According to Fábio Morelatto, tracking and monitoring manager at Pra Frente Brasil, photovoltaic solutions brought benefits to the operation, such as increasing the useful life of vehicle batteries, which increased from nine months to two years.

“We also had a reduction in diesel consumption and also in the wear of engine parts, as the solar panels work when the vehicle is switched off”, he highlighted.

Since 2021, when tests began, 710 kits have been purchased, totaling 1,420 160 W modules to be installed in 500 trucks in the fleet.

Pra Frente Brasil is headquartered in Cascavel (PR) and has branches in Londrina (PR), Porto Alegre (RS), Campo Grande (MS), Araçatuba (SP), Montevideo, Uruguay, and the newest branch in Sarandi (PR ), which began operating in early July.

“For Intelbras, this partnership highlights the company's ability to develop end-to-end solutions that solve the needs and benefit its customers,” said Bruno Valerim, supervisor of monitoring and tracking technologies at Intelbras.

“In recent years, we have developed several technologies for the logistics sector, and the results obtained with Pra Frente Brasil show that we are on the right path”, added Valerim.

Solutions employed

The kit installed on the trucks consists of two 160 W polycrystalline photovoltaic modules (model EMS 160P), a 30 manA PWM charge controller (ECP3024) and other protection devices.

According to Intelbras, the small size allows for easy installation in different environments, and can even be carried out by a transport technician in the fleet's vehicles.

Furthermore, with the constant expansion of the Pra Frente Brasil fleet, cars will be able to start receiving new flexible panels, a solution that was launched by Intelbras in May this year.

Consolidated partnership

The partnership between the companies began in 2017 and expanded over the years. “We started the agreement with the installation of the vehicle DVR line and cameras in all vehicles in the fleet, which allow monitoring the situation of vehicles and drivers in real time, from departure to return,” said Fábio Morelatto.

The vehicle DVR has been one of the solutions adopted by fleet managers looking for more protection against cargo theft, kidnappings, vandalism and traffic accidents, in addition to helping to monitor the driver's performance and behavior during work, the conditions of passengers or cargo and even the roads traveled.

Complementing the solution, four cameras were installed in each vehicle in the Pra Frente Brasil fleet, one at the front, another in the cabin to capture the driver's behavior and two on the sides. In total, there are 1,400 cameras in cars, which work to identify those responsible for possible incidents and have already prevented countless situations.

Furthermore, the onboard artificial intelligence solution called iFleet Smart G2 contributes to the real-time monitoring of behaviors such as fatigue, driver distraction, cell phone use, lane changing, as well as the analysis of potential risks of frontal collisions.

According to the company, all information is sent in real time to software, so that the fleet manager can monitor events live, mitigating risks for drivers and vehicles.

“Pra Frente Brasil is always looking for new technologies and Intelbras has extensive presence in the market and knowledge of these solutions. We trust the company, especially for the quality of delivery and mainly for the guarantee of immediate support in case of doubts or other needs”, highlighted Morelatto.

For Alexandre Simas, sales supervisor for the technology and monitoring segment at Intelbras, bringing more robust solutions to Pra Frente Brasil's day-to-day operations was essential to modernize the company's operations and generate even more credibility in the logistics market.