Idling away profits
As fuel prices skyrocket, fleets are scrambling for idling solutions. That’s why onboard APUs and truck stop electrification systems are more popular than ever.
By Sean Kelley
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IdleAire provides heating, cooling and AC power through a window-mounted unit. That same unit also includes telephone, cable television, Internet access for laptops and even a touchscreen computer with USB ports for a keyboard and mouse. |
Sometime this fall a driver will pull into Arrow Trucking Co.’s Tulsa, Okla. terminal and see a sight more familiar at truck stops: IdleAire’s big yellow air and heat ducts hanging from a rack above.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart drivers will be using auxiliary power units (APUs) mounted to their company trucks. And at some carriers across the United States, truckers will be told to quit idling or face the real possibility of losing their jobs.
The anti-idling crusade has begun in earnest. Although carriers are concerned about large fines directed at curbing emissions, the bigger motivation is the skyrocketing price of diesel. Companies may have surcharges, but with a gallon of diesel priced between $2.50 and $3, carriers can see an average of $5,500 per truck going out the stack every year, according to federal government idling studies.
Most recent fleet anti-idling efforts have focused on driver behavior issues, trucks with smart idling systems and diesel fuel bunk heaters. But for the first time, fleets seriously are eyeing pricier alternatives, including onboard APUs and terminal and truck stop electrification systems. To be sure, such efforts require an investment few fleets have been willing to make, but the cost of diesel has made such solutions – once considered cost-prohibitive – more affordable options.
Auxiliary power
Nowhere is this interest being felt more keenly than in the APU or genset industry. Long the purview of owner-operators, fleets generally have avoided gensets because it took years to see a return on investment – up to five years, depending on idling time and fuel costs. Maintenance intervals and weight – many genset and electric HVAC systems weigh 400 pounds or more – also were barriers to adoption.
But carriers are starting to come around, says Lee Quick, national sales manager of Centramatic. “Everybody is going to be doing this,” Quick says. In some cases, high fuel prices have reduced the ROI period on a genset down to less than 18 months.
Centramatic, better known for its wheel balancers, has entered the APU business in the last two years – along with dozens of other players. Most systems are simple, matching a small, frame-mounted diesel generator and a 110-volt air conditioner and heater. Others combine a fuel-fired heater and 110-volt air conditioning. A few systems interact with the tractor’s heating and cooling systems.
The systems start at $5,000 and run as much as $10,000 once installed. Some are offered as factory options; several OEMs – including Freightliner and Cummins – have announced plans to offer their own APUs.
Arctic Express President Richard Durst says his company is interested in the Cummins APU, but for now has experimented with units made by RigMaster. “We’ve installed about a dozen units on trucks,” Durst says. “It’s cut idling down from 45 to 50 percent down to 5 to 8 percent. We can pay for the unit in a year. That’s even before fuel went to $2.89 a gallon. At $2.10 and $2.20 a gallon, you can save enough money to pay for it in 12 months. Any time you could make a capital investment and get a 12-month return on it, you’re in good shape.”
Such systems offer big advantages to fleets trying to cut down on idling. First, truckers can use them virtually anywhere. One of the reasons few fleets have invested in inverters and truck stop electrification (TSE) gear is that their drivers don’t just idle at places like truck stops where power sources are available. Many idle in lines waiting to unload or along roadsides where parking is limited. But advanced electrification solutions, such as the IdleAire solution, may have their own advantages. (See “More than idle savings?,” below.)
Dometic has been in the APU business for a while and has seen carrier interest grow dramatically in the last year or two. “Some fleets have never really considered buying gensets. APU expenses haven’t ever really been built into freight rates, either. Now they’re a viable option,” says Jim Rhodes, who handles public relations for the company.
APUs have drawbacks, though. Hilliard, Ohio-based Arctic hasn’t added APUs to all its trucks because of the upfront costs. Besides expense, gensets are heavy and typically require more frequent maintenance intervals than truck engines. But the weight issue may no longer be a major barrier. The recently passed energy bill includes a federal weight exemption of up to 400 pounds for APUs and other idle-reduction technology.
“Maintenance is also a big issue,” says Will McAndrew, CEO of Energy and Engine Technology Corporation. The company designed its AXP 1000 with ease of maintenance in mind. Depending on use, the PM schedule can be matched with a conservative oil change interval.
McAndrew’s company introduced an APU and HVAC system earlier in 2005 and is selling them briskly (nearly 200 in August), mainly to owner-operators. But fleets are calling, he says. “Our units are in big owner-operator fleets like Landstar, Mercer, Jones and Prime. A 3,000-truck fleet called me and wants to order.”
Other entrants to the field include Thermo King, which acquired an APU manufacturer last year. Thermo King’s TriPac Auxiliary Heating/Cooling Temperature Management System has three advantages over some other APUs, says Doug Lenz, the company’s director of product management for tractor and trailer products.
First, TriPac uses a fuel-fired heater that reduces the amount of diesel consumed down to 0.2 of a gallon an hour, half what many APU systems currently burn. Second, carriers can customize its control unit to optimize the system for their operation. And finally, Thermo King offers a national network of service centers, something most APU manufacturers lack.
That’s what attracted Brad Pinchuk, president and COO of Hirschbach Motorlines, a 475-truck carrier in South Sioux City, Neb. “We tried everything to get truckers to cut back on idling,” Pinchuk says. “We tried a couple of different bonus programs. I’d say they were pretty ineffective.” The company also tried a fuel-fired bunk heater, but found its drivers ran the bunk heater while idling the truck.
In addition to Thermo King’s maintenance network, the system’s customization appealed to Pinchuk, who will have 150 trucks with Thermo King gensets by the end of the year. Trucks will be able to idle for only three minutes before they shut down automatically, but bunk heat will be maintained by a thermostat that will crank the generator. Better yet, the truck engine and the APU will not be able to operate at the same time.
More than idle savings
Advanced electrification goes beyond fuel savings |
The purpose of most idling-reduction systems is strictly to provide power and climatic control. Each solution has certain pros and cons. Auxiliary power units work anywhere the truck is parked, but they add weight, require maintenance and burn fuel – albeit far less than a truck engine. Truck stop electrification alleviates those downsides, but it requires infrastructure, so it may take years to become a common solution. And even then, it will work only at fixed locations.
But an apples-to-apples comparison between APUs and an advanced TSE system like IdleAire is further complicated because they aren’t even really the same product. IdleAire combines power and comfort functions with the opportunity for entertainment and training that could help improve driver satisfaction and safety performance.
IdleAire provides heating, cooling and AC power through a window-mounted unit. That same unit also includes telephone, cable television, Internet access for laptops and even a touchscreen computer with USB ports for a keyboard and mouse. IdleAire is developing its own television programming and arrangements with partners like Tread-1 to provide professional services like safety training.
Company officials say the customer base is growing rapidly, but they concede some real and perceived challenges. For starters, the entertainment offerings remind some carriers of earlier similar efforts, most notably the now-defunct Park ‘n View, later called PNV. And like PNV, IdleAire currently suffers from a capacity shortage with only about two dozen truck stop locations. But the company recently obtained tax-exempt bond financing to install units at 70 new locations in 28 states – a task that is expected to be completed by next summer.
Memories of PNV were a concern for Arctic Express President Richard Durst before signing on, but the popularity of the service with drivers and the fuel savings made it an easy decision. “I like the aggressive plan they have for expansion,” Durst says.
IdleAire also is expanding from truck stops to carrier terminals. At the Great American Trucking Show in August, IdleAire announced plans to build a facility at Arrow Trucking Co.’s Tulsa, Okla. headquarters. Everhart says other trucking operations are interested in terminal locations.
Arrow Trucking is one of IdleAire’s biggest customers, buying more than 112,000 hours of service in the past few years. Bob Fitzgerald, Arrow Trucking’s chief operating officer, says the IdleAire system helps the carrier save fuel, meet qualifications for the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership (www.epa.gov/smartway) and recruit and retain drivers. |
Other options
For Jacobson Transportation, a midsized fleet in Des Moines, Iowa, APU reliability has been an issue as the fleet has searched for an idling alternative. Diesel-powered APUs also produce emissions – in some cases worse than an idling truck – which has Jacobson President Howard Hein worried about fines.
“We would jump on a genset immediately if, from an emission standpoint, they were acceptable,” Hein says. “Payback would be pretty quick because I don’t see fuel coming down.”
The company, which has lowered its idle percentage from more than 40 percent to the mid-30s in the last five years, has been searching for a solution. In the winter, drivers actually idle very little – about 25 percent of the time – because the company’s 500 trucks are equipped with Espar heaters (standard heating equipment on many genset systems), which run off diesel fuel.
A cooling solution has been more elusive, and the company is partnering with a nearby university to address cooling issues. “Somewhere along the line, somebody’s got to come up with a solution,” Hein says. “I’m amazed that the industry hasn’t come up with one.”
Cooling is the reason owner-operators traditionally have turned to gensets to reduce idling or provide comfort. Air conditioners largely run off 110-volt AC power. A few models tap into DC current, but those drain a truck’s batteries quickly and still need a generator to recharge them.
With hydrogen-powered fuel cells years away, there are only a handful of products available that can provide the power to run heating and cooling systems. One of those is made by Webasto, known for its fuel-fired sleeper heaters. The company recently launched a more complete system earlier this year that it is marketing under the name C5 – short for Complete Cabin Climate Comfort Control. The unique air-conditioning aspect of the system charges a cold storage cell while the truck is running down the road, and then small fans circulate that air during a driver’s rest period. The air-conditioning unit, called BlueCool Truck, can be purchased separately from the system and can keep a sleeper below 70 degrees up to nine hours on a hot day, the company says.
Another such alternative is Bergstrom’s NITE System. At $3,500 before installation, it’s one of the cheapest idling alternatives on the market. The NITE System includes an AC unit, several deep-cycle batteries and a fuel-fired heater. While it doesn’t provide energy for appliances, the system can keep a sleeper warm in the winter and cold in the summer.
Thousands of units have been sold since it was introduced in 2004, says company spokesman Scott Clark. A few carriers have bought it because it is inexpensive and lighter than many APUs.
Those certainly were motivations for TL Express in Bedford, Ohio, says COO Jerry Carlton. “It costs us $3,800 after installation to put in a NITE system,” he says. “Gensets are twice that.” The company installed several as a test in 2004 and now has them on more than 25 of its tractors. Linda Carlton, vice president and service manager, says the units are a major improvement over idling and the smart idling systems on its tractors, which automatically turn engines on or off based on cab temperature.
“I don’t know how drivers sleep with that optimized idle on – with the engine coming on and off all the time,” Linda Carlton says. “Drivers love the new system.”
Some of the fleet’s NITE units last about five hours, long enough to keep the cab warm or cold for an eight-hour break. Others run seven or eight hours, and the company says drivers have been sweated out by heat in the winter and frozen by the cooling capacity in the summer. “It works great,” Carlton says.
One of the challenges with any of these systems is installation. Companies selling gensets are backordered and swamped by new installations. Few systems are factory-installed options. TL Express has used its own mechanics to install the Bergstrom units, but is working with Freightliner and its dealer to have more of the units installed on new trucks as they are delivered.
But TL Express is sold on the NITE system, which the carrier expects to last at least five years per truck. “As we trade these units in, I’m going to pull out the system and install them in another truck,” Carlton says.
Getting drivers to actually use the NITE system has been a challenge because they are not trained on it yet. Carlton says she caught one driver idling at the home terminal, even though he had the system in his sleeper. “He said he didn’t know how to use it,” she says. “All I had to show him was how to turn it on.”
Surging fuel simplifies ROI
Reduced engine wear and longer oil drains are just gravy |
When Bard Pinchuk, president of Hirschbach Motorlines, began looking at gensets for his 475-truck fleet, he took a conservative approach to calculating return of investment. “Frankly, I was very cynical and skeptical that I could pay for a unit fast enough to make it worthwhile.”
Gensets cost typically between $5,000 and $8,000 installed. Carriers generally have avoided them because the ROI took longer than most trade cycles. As fuel costs have risen, the number of months it takes to pay off a genset with savings has shrunk.
“All I did was estimate fuel,” Pinchuk says. “I didn’t give anything for residual value of the generator system, didn’t calculate the residual value of a truck with fewer hours on it, didn’t calculate savings for fewer oil change intervals and less maintenance – all the benefits you get from a genset. At $2.05 a gallon, my ROI was 15 months. Now it’s considerably less.”
Calculating ROI is fairly easy – even if you don’t know how many hours your average truck idles a month. The federal government has done some of the work for you. Engine makers say a truck engine uses between 0.8 and 1.2 gallons of diesel an hour when idling, depending on three factors: age and efficiency of engine, idle speed and parasitic draw – the amount of electricity used by accessories such as appliances. Some new engines can use as little as a half-gallon an hour idling at 1,100 rpm.
The amount of time a truck spends idling varies by the personal habits of the driver – the number of nights he spends in his sleeper and the areas of the country where he runs. Fuel costs, too, vary by region. Pinchuk found his trucks averaged more than 7.5 hours a day – every day – idling.
Using calculations created by the U.S. government’s Argonne National Laboratories, the typical long-haul truck burns about $4,600 a year idling. You can adjust the data in this formula to figure your own idling costs.
Estimate the number of hours each year your trucks idle while parked. Accurate data can be downloaded from the unit’s ECU. If you’re not sure, use an average of six hours a day, 43 weeks a year– or roughly 1,800 hours per truck, according to U.S. government estimates.
Multiply that by the fuel your unit burns in an hour of idling. If you’re not sure, use 1 gallon per hour.
Multiply your fuel consumption by your average fuel cost. For 2005, that is about $2.41 nationwide. The result is your average annual fuel cost.
Multiply your hours idling by 14 cents (.14), the average cost of engine wear and oil consumption for an hour of idling. That gives total non-fuel cost.
Add fuel and non-fuel costs to get the total cost of idling for one year.
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Getting through to the driver
Educating drivers on these new systems – and on the costs of idling in general – is a challenge at carriers of all sizes. Springfield, Mo.-based Prime Inc. is focusing its efforts with company drivers, says John Hancock, director of recruiting. The company has used Webasto heaters and engines with optimized idling systems, but its most successful approach has been educating drivers – and reinforcing that education.
“They’re taught to turn the truck off because it’s hard on the engine,” Hancock says. “Some drivers still think they’ll wear out their starter if they turn off their truck. But we know that starters are cheaper than the fuel they’re burning.”
Jacobson’s Hein and Arctic’s Durst also have focused on driver behavior. Hein’s team reviews driver idling times monthly and corrects behavior through incentives – as well as discipline. And lots of fleets make fuel efficiency – which is affected adversely by idling – part of a driver’s bonus structure.
“Our guys pay attention to idling now,” Hein says. “But when drivers are down in Texas and it’s 95 degrees out, they have to idle.”
“We cover idling in driver orientation and other meetings,” says Durst, who is known to walk through Arctic’s home terminal lot looking for idling trucks. “If I find a truck idling, I correct that behavior.” When they’re at the home terminal, drivers have an option: Arctic has driver quarters that are heated and cooled. And when they are on the road, drivers can use IdleAire facilities when they are available.
“People are going to get very innovative,” Durst says. “Even if fuel comes back down, it’s still absurd and it’s killing the industry. We’ve got to really get serious about idling alternatives.”
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