Eaton Corp. has made a “substantial investment” to help fund IdleAire Technologies' Advanced Travel Center Electrification deployment.

IdleAire's ATE technology supplies heat and air conditioning and other convenience services, such as Internet service, to parked trucks, allowing drivers to turn off their engines and remain comfortable while they park to sleep or wait to load and unload.
Since last year the two companies have been working on the design and electrification of all of IdleAire's installations throughout North America. In addition, the two companies will immediately begin work on a joint development project to provide new services and products to the transportation industry.
"We're extremely pleased to be working with Eaton," said David Everhart, IdleAire senior vice president of strategic relations. "This is more than a start-up investment; it is a strategic partnership with a major player in both the electrical equipment and truck components business that places IdleAire in a position to expand our core business into an area that can become crucial for many trucking companies."
IdleAire's ATE technology includes a service delivery module that installs in the window of a parked vehicle. The service module includes a powerful single board computer to allow drivers to control their environment and to communicate via the Internet. In addition, the service module's single board computer includes a custom port that can connect to the data network and onboard computer common in heavy duty vehicles. Eaton and IdleAire will work together to design an interface between IdleAire's service module and the vehicle's engine control computer to provide transmission and other operational data, to design and implement proprietary designs to power ATE parking lots and to deliver the IdleAire services to professional drivers.
Eaton’s relationship with IdleAire involves both its Industrial and Commercial Controls and Truck Components operations.