ParkSmart HVAC vs traditional APU

Well, ParkSmart is only good for 8-10 hours A/C. Uses a separate set of Batteries. Doesn't provide 110 vac for powering TV, refrigerator, etc.
APU provides A/C, 110 vac electrical outlets, and keeps your batteries charged up. And can be plumbed into your main engine cooling system to keep engine block warm in cold weather.
My money is on an APU, more versatile.

 

If cost is the same, Park Smart makes no sense to me, I have it in my company '13 Cascadia and if your driver is out more than a week, he'll have to idle (winter because of batteries and cold + 34hr restarts because of battery capacity) also, if you have one bad battery you have to change the entire set....also in the summer you have to idle about an hour to get the cabin cool and then you shut off and use the ParkSmart to retain temp (even says so in the Operators Manual)...

 

Now that I'm in a truck without an APU I have a better appreciation for how useful they are. It goes well beyond just saving on fuel cost. You're going to use your electronics direct off the battery when you're sitting without idling. This will drain your battery a lot faster than if you have an APU. Also it's a lot easier to charge up a low truck battery with an APU than by hooking cables to a reefer or some other truck's battery.

 

If you go with the parksmart, I would also get optimized idle.. that will help keep your batteries charged

 

Fyi, When the truck reaches low voltage level it will automatically crank up for 15-30min to replenish the battery(optimize idle). Don't know where the disinformation came from? Maybe drive one before putting out the wrong information

 

The Thermo King website has an APU payback calculator.
APU Payback Calculator



Truck - Using .8 gph x 120 nights x 10 hours x $4 per gallon of diesel = $3,840 cost to idle
APU - Using .2 gph x 120 nights x 10 hours x $4 per gallon of diesel = $960
3840 - 960 = $2,880 per yr savings About 3.8 yrs to recoup 11k
But with APU there is less wear on the engine and less frequent oil changes in addition to the greater versatility already mentioned. Without an APU the idle hours add up to at least 4,000 hours over 4 yrs and could be as high as almost 6,000 hours.