Throughout the global pandemic, the critical role last-mile delivery workers play has never been more evident. As delivery companies continue to find new ways to protect its drivers, Tempronics, a provider of personal microclimate technology, is helping them to add another layer of safety with its latest advancements in their patented climate seating products.

"This was an interesting use case, last-mile delivery is extremely challenging and presents significant risk to active operators in extreme weather conditions," said Don Dutton, president and CEO of Tempronics. "Traditional vehicle HVAC systems are ineffective, especially given that they are essentially being operated in an open-air environment. We have been optimizing our microclimate seating systems specifically for the last-mile delivery application, and released our latest configuration this spring for operator evaluations during the hot summer months." 

To validate the effectiveness of Tempronics' latest advancements in their microclimate seating technology, they partnered with Arizona-based trucking companies during the height of the summer months. Coincidently, meteorologists recorded record highs this year, which reached 110+ degrees Fahrenheit for more than 50 days.

"Drivers are the lifeblood of trucking companies; and keeping them safe, healthy and on the road is critical to the overall operations of our business," said Brett Richardson, president of American Spirit Logistics. "Drivers can be loading and unloading a truck in 100-degree temperatures and we want to do what we can do to keep them healthy – this technology can help mitigate risk and could help with driver retention."

Tempronics' microclimate seating technology directly cools the driver helping to reduce thermal stress.

 "Most work trucks don't have AC because it doesn't work in that environment. It would be like using your air conditioner at home and leaving all of your windows and doors open. Our drivers felt the climate seating capability really made a difference in the extreme heat, both physically and mentally," said Richardson.Tempronics microclimate technology is challenging the status quo of traditional HVAC and has been integrated into everything from luxury furniture and power sport vehicles to aircraft seating. The technology can also be leveraged in electric vehicles helping to extend their range by reducing the load typically consumed by the vehicle's HVAC.

 "Our last-mile operators and drivers have been performing an essential role during the past 6 months as we navigate the challenges of COVID-19.  We are extremely pleased with the feedback we have received in the past few months, it has been instrumental in optimizing our capability which is now in production with several seating and vehicle OEM's in the last mile delivery and first responder markets," said Dutton. "We look forward to rapidly fielding the capability and providing urgent relief during extreme summer and winter environments to these critical professionals."