Blackburn secures critical funding amid novel coronavirus crisis

Blackburn Energy recently secured funds to help grow its flagship RelGen product, which is a battery charging solution designed to save fuel, improve truck uptime and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The company said RelGen technology applies the principles of kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS), like those used in Formula One racing. RelGen captures energy that otherwise is lost while braking, converts it to electricity, then saves it into a battery array. The stored energy can be used many ways, including to power electric APUs like Bergstrom’s NITE or eCoolPark that heat and cool cabs of long-haul trucks.

“In a very small package, Blackburn has eliminated the need to upgrade the alternators on engines,” said Sean Connell, managing director and principal engineer for Bergstrom. “Their product keeps batteries charged better than anything we have seen before.”

Blackburn’s RelGen also is used to charge liftgate batteries.

“Regardless of liftgate type or manufacturer, almost all liftgates occasionally encounter a performance issue,” said Anton Griessner, vice president of marketing and business development for Maxon Liftgates. “Of all the factors contributing to poor liftgate performance issues, even ‘stuck trucks’ we see 80% of the issues liftgate customers deal with tie to low voltage.”

Electric APU and liftgate customers can benefit from RelGen, Blackburn maintained, because the product’s clean tech eliminates dependency on the engine’s alternator to create energy. RelGen's approach to capturing energy is easy to install and boasts a short return on investment. Other benefits can include saving “thousands of gallons” of fuel through the elimination of engine idling and improved overall fuel efficiency, as well as lowering maintenance costs by reducing engine wear and saving on diesel particulate aftertreatment costs, all by removing the electric load from the engine.

Blackburn said it also is expanding its sales and distribution capabilities.

“We’re thrilled that investors, like Geekdom Fund, and many of our prior investors believed so strongly in our company, that they would invest even during these extraordinarily difficult times brought on by the coronavirus,” said Andrew Amigo, CEO and founder of Blackburn. “These funds will help us expand our sales effort, meet customer needs, and build on our current success.”

Blackburn said RelGen is available for immediate delivery. Email [email protected] for more information.