Purkeys will take orders for Maxwell’s ESM, which supplies dedicated power for truck engine starting, even when lead-acid batteries are drained and weakened by cold temperatures or excessive use, thereby eliminating costly jump-starts and downtime.

As a leader and influencer of maintenance standards in the heavy duty trucking industry, Purkeys will help Maxwell expand its North American sales of the ESM and provide individualized attention to fleet customers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) seeking alternative energy solutions. In addition to distribution, Purkeys will provide value-added integration services to solve electrical system challenges with Maxwell products.

Jump-starting and idling represent steep operational costs to trucking fleets, which must maintain their routes and schedules regardless of the strain weather or long hauls put on their vehicles. We expect Maxwell’s Engine Start Module line to help significantly reduce our industry’s engine cranking challenges, and we look forward to working together to address other energy obstacles facing this market.

—Bruce Purkey, chief creative engineer at Purkeys

Unlike batteries, which produce and store energy by means of a chemical reaction, ultracapacitors store energy in an electric field. This electrostatic energy storage mechanism enables ultracapacitors to charge and discharge in as little as fractions of a second, perform normally over a broad temperature range (-40 degrees Celsius to +65 degrees Celsius), operate reliably through 1 million or more charge/discharge cycles and resist shock and vibration. Maxwell offers ultracapacitor cells ranging in capacitance from one to 3,400 farads and multi-cell modules ranging from 12 to 160 volts.