Wabash Trailers have partnered with eNow solar power and Carrier Transicold to provide a road ready solar powered reefer trailer, which is now in production and available for purchase.
-Not my photo.
On to my personal views: I like solar power, it's a clean and relatively easy to harness energy.
But, a whole trailer roof? Not sure how that'll work out in the long run, though in areas where you see a lot of sun such as California and the Southwest in general, and the Southeast as well, I could see it being a very viable option.
Repairs could be an issue, imagine a leaky roof. What if you get water in the electronics or have to patch a hole or multiple holes over time? Will the patch(es) cover up so much surface it can no longer provide enough power to the reefer unit? How easy is it to replace a roof section?
How easy is the reefer unit to repair and maintain?
Also, how much weight does it add? (I'd assume the elimination of the normal reefer unit balances that out).
Anyway, those are my thoughts and some questions that, as a member of the truck and trailer repair community, I'd like to have answers to. You'd hope some, if not most or all, of those questions were asked already, but unfortunately most trucks and trailers now are designed by committees on a computer, and no thought turned to the long term maintenance and repair headaches their "Grand Ideas" cause.
I agree and will be interesting to see how it ages
Ditto