Drivers Key to Cutting Idle Costs
Fleets must balance the need to reduce idling with the need to attract and retain drivers. Photo: Randy Heinitz via Flickr/creative commons license
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Fleets must balance the need to reduce idling with the need to attract and retain drivers. Photo: Randy Heinitz via Flickr/creative commons license
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Ten years ago, we would have predicted that by now no truck would be idling anywhere in the United States,” says Mike Roeth, executive director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency, which studies fuel-efficiency tactics and technologies. Yet despite widespread anti-idling laws and lots of available idle-reduction technology, go to any truck stop today and you’ll see plenty of trucks still idling.
Even in California, which has the strictest emissions regulations in the country, new trucks with advanced emissions control systems can be certified as “Clean Idle.” And right now, diesel prices are low enough that for some truck owners, it’s just not a priority — or at least not as high a one as keeping drivers comfortable and happy in the face of an ever-worsening driver shortage.
Yet even with lower fuel prices, there’s still plenty of money to be saved by reducing idling. A 2016 report by Argonne National Laboratory found that all idle reduction options save money when fuel costs more than $2 per gallon. Harder to quantify but just as real is the saved wear and tear on the truck engine.
Taylor White, vice president for 235-truck dry van fleet Alabama Motor Express, says his company adopted APUs over a decade ago. The fleet has tried both diesel and battery-powered versions, but currently has Thermo King’s TriPac diesel APU on all its trucks. “When fuel got to its peak we would see a return [on our investment] in 18 months just on fuel numbers,” he says.
While lower diesel prices mean the ROI isn’t as fast, he says, using APUs has improved trade-in values. With the hours on the truck engine significantly reduced, AMX has been …Read the rest of this story
