FENTON, Mich. — Webasto has received California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) approval for its BlueCool Truck Bunk Cooler.

BlueCool Truck provides engine-off bunk cooling and dehumidification, and actually uses no emissions when in use.

“At first glance, people sometimes think BlueCool Truck is a new kind of auxiliary power unit (APU),” said John Thomas, Webasto vice-president of marketing. “But BlueCool Truck isn’t an APU at all. It’s a technologically advanced energy storage system which harnesses the kinetic energy of the truck’s drivetrain while traveling down the road and stores it as potential energy in the BCT storage core. When needed this potential energy is released again as kinetic energy on demand to cool the bunk area.”

BlueCool Truck’s source of cooling is a cold storage unit that is charged (frozen) while the truck is running.

During times of driver rest, the system utilizes only small amounts of electricity from the existing vehicle batteries (no additional batteries are needed) to circulate coolant between the cold storage unit and a heat exchanger installed in the truck sleeper cabin. Pushed by four small, quiet air distribution fans, the cold air will keep the bunk area cool for up to 10 hours in most ambient conditions.

Once charged, the system uses no diesel fuel and therefore produces no emissions during the cooling operation because it runs independently of the OEM air conditioning system.

BlueCool Truck joins several other Webasto products that received CARB approval in 2007, including the Air Top 2000 S and Air Top 2000 ST compartment air heaters and Thermo Top Z/C (TSL 17) engine coolant pre-heater.