Reduce the Cost of Idling with JEMS

This article originally appeared in Western Energy Magazine’s Summer 2022 edition. 

As the world increases its focus on green initiatives, many companies are establishing aggressive sustainability practices to be better corporate citizens. For utility companies and others that require large fleets, finding ways to reduce or eliminate emissions has become a key part of those plans.

Consumer vehicles alone emit around 30 million tons of carbon dioxide annually just by idling. Fleet vehicles may spend anywhere from 60 to 70 percent of the day idling at the jobsite, and for every hour spent idling, 22.4 pounds of CO₂ are released into the atmosphere.

To combat these unnecessary emissions, many states have passed laws state a car cannot spend more than three to five minutes idling. Even more states have passed regulations for vehicles such as school busses and vehicles over 10,001 pounds—including bucket trucks and digger derricks. To comply with these anti-idling laws and meet corporate sustainability goals, fleets are turning toward electrification solutions.

“Ultimately our customer base has been tasked with something pretty monumental,” said Paul Flick, Altec Green Fleet sales manager. “They’ve been tasked with having a sustainability program in place that may include a certain percentage of fleet electrification by a certain date, or a similar premise. We feel that we have a good resource for them with the JEMS product.”

Altec’s Jobsite Energy Management System, or JEMS, provides a method to eliminate idling and reduce noise at the jobsite while still offering customers the benefits of a traditional chassis. Without having to idle the engine, JEMS delivers battery power to auxiliary chassis applications such as cab comfort AC and heat, jobsite tools and electric power take-off (ePTO). When JEMS is activated, a vehicle produces zero jobsite emissions with zero reduction in performance.

Not only does idling release unnecessary emissions into the environment, but it also creates unnecessary wear and tear on a vehicle—just an hour of idling is equivalent to driving 25 miles. For large fleets, the cost of idling can add up quickly—both environmentally and in dollars and cents spent on maintenance and fuel.

“While many customers may choose JEMS to meet sustainability initiatives, they’re quickly discovering the substantial cost savings the system delivers by reducing fuel costs and unnecessary wear and tear on a truck,” Flick said. “In any electrification plan, we know a diversified portfolio is important, and JEMS can be the key to achieving those goals.”   

Minimizing Jobsite Idling

JEMS is an integrated plug-in system that uses stored energy from a lithium-ion battery to deliver power to jobsite tools, such as a truck’s hydraulics and cab comfort, eliminating idling and reducing noise at the jobsite.

JEMS delivers power for daily jobsite requirements, depending on jobsite application, and can be conveniently charged using plug-in charging (Level 1 and 2), jobsite charging and mobile charging.

“Customers are looking for three things in an electrification solution, and if you miss one, you’re not going to have a successful product,” said Frank Dean, Altec Green Fleet market manager. “First, the product has to perform and have the same reliability as a diesel truck with no degradation of performance. Second, it needs to include the latest technology. Third, it needs to have a dashboard where they can monitor performance of the technology.”

Altec recently launched its most tested and trusted JEMS products ever, which includes the latest in battery technology: the JEMS S with anti-idle, JEMS SE for small aerial electric power take off (ePTO) with anti-idle, and the JEMS LE for large aerial ePTO with anti-idle. JEMS also has configurable options that customers can select based on their specific application and budget. These options include, but are not limited to, cab comfort air conditioning and heat; mobile and jobsite charging; EV charging cord for plug in charging; and fuel fired heater and extreme air conditioning to supplement the cab comfort solution. JEMS can be installed on a wide range of applications that includes aerial devices, digger derricks and service body trucks.

With the launch of the latest iteration of the JEMS product came JEMS Connect, a fleet dashboard with an intuitive user interface that allows fleets to easily analyze jobsite anti-idle metrics such as fuel savings, emissions avoided and trends. In addition, JEMS Connect identifies opportunities for fleets to optimize their jobsite performance.

“Our product offerings today are really a testament to our history over the last decade,” Flick said. “At one time, we may have had all kinds of models and configurations. To make this product the most seamless and reliable, and to make it completely integrated into our platforms, we needed to narrow down our breadth.”

A company running smaller aerial devices such as telecommunications, service, and/or trouble trucks would be a good candidate for SE, while large construction equipment is a good candidate for LE. The S model is designed for those with no ePTO needs who are simply looking to keep the truck’s cab, which also serves as the operator’s office, comfortable in all climates.

Since its inception, JEMS has saved customers more than 2 million gallons of fuel–more than $10 million in fuel savings based on today’s cost of fuel. The product has also saved more than 75 million idling miles and more than 50 million pounds of CO₂ emissions.

An Ever-Evolving Product

Altec’s current JEMS offering is the product of a decade of evolution based on continual technological advancement and listening closely to customer needs and feedback.

Altec first began exploring electrification some 15 years ago as customers began requesting a method of noise and idle reduction at the jobsite, as well as fuel savings. To meet these needs, the company established a strategic relationship with third-party vendors to manufacture a jobsite idling reduction system that was then assembled and installed on Altec equipment.

That arrangement met initial customer needs, but as the need for electrification grew and the focus on sustainability increased, customer needs evolved, too.

“Allowing for air conditioning in the cab of the truck was one of the first extensions of the product,” said Danny Peterson, Altec principal engineering manager. “It went from just providing equipment operation without running the engine, to providing a heated or cooled work environment for the operator without burning fuel.”

Altec began exclusively producing and providing factory installation of the JEMS product in the company’s Elizabethtown, Kentucky, manufacturing facility nearly four years ago.

“We realized that in order for us to deliver the level of quality to our customers that was expected, we needed to think of the product not as a box of parts that anyone can install, but as a highly engineered design,” Peterson said.

Over the last decade-plus of work in the vehicle electrification space, Altec has learned many lessons that have helped craft the JEMS product as it stands today. Initial models were somewhat complicated and required that operators used the truck in a different way than they were used to. For example, cab temperature couldn’t be changed with factory controls—a major pain point for many customers.

“Where we’ve landed with today’s product is really getting back to how utility equipment is used,” Peterson said. “As the product evolved, we had this natural inclination that made the usage of the equipment way more complex, so we were essentially changing the way an Altec customer had to use the equipment.”

The current versions of JEMS integrate more seamlessly and cleanly into Altec equipment, requiring little to no extra work on the operator’s part.

“With our latest design, we are striving and holding tight to this idea that we are not changing the way you use an Altec truck, whether it’s got JEMS on it or not,” Peterson said.

The Future of Electrification

As the consumer electric vehicle market has continued to grow and become more mainstream, so has the understanding of customers regarding fleet electrification, whether it’s through an ePTO application or an all-electric vehicle.

For example, Peterson said, when push-button starts first came out, many vehicle owners missed the action of turning a key. Now, push-button starts have become a common feature on most vehicles.

The same concept applies to electric vehicles. As charging stations become much more readily available, the concept of charging a vehicle has become less cumbersome for customers. According to data from the U.S. Department of Energy, there are approximately 47,000 charging locations across the country, making the thought of charging your vehicle out on the go—or a home—more commonplace.

“One thing that’s been somewhat of a struggle is the concept of plugging in your truck,” Peterson said. “The idea that you had to take the extra step of plugging your truck in at night was somewhat of a hurdle for folks. With EVs becoming more and more common, the idea that you have to plug your vehicle in is becoming more and more understood.”

Increasingly, organizations are establishing fleet electrification goals to meet sustainability initiatives, and a diversified portfolio of MD/HD fleet electrification options is necessary to meet the needs of various applications, Flick said.

While EVs certainly have a place in some applications, JEMS can provide the best of both worlds to help customers meet fleet electrification goals and while also meeting the rigorous demands of utility work, where long days and extreme conditions can be the norm.

“This might be a vehicle that has to go on storm work,” Flick said. “JEMS allows a vehicle to be utilized on storm work or an extended workday without any jeopardy of needing to be plugged back in for charging. The truck can be used indefinitely via mobile or job site charging features and the system design allows for the truck to switch to mPTO to meet an operator’s needs.”

Even as EVs become more readily available and the cost becomes less prohibitive, Peterson and Altec believe there will always be a place for JEMS in the quest to reduce a fleet’s financial and environmental cost.

“We continue to see and feel that there’s going to be a need for a solution that gives you the best of both worlds,” Peterson said. “JEMS helps you meet your electrification initiatives and reduce your carbon footprint without the limitations of an all-electric vehicle that come with certain applications. If you’re working an extra-long shift or trying to get critical infrastructure back on, your truck is still ready to work.”