An Idling Solution And Then Some
The concept behind IdleAire is to provide heat and air conditioning piped in to the cab/sleeper at truckstops and other areas where truckers stop.
There are already IdleAire deployments at the Petro in Knoxville, at Hunts Point Cooperative Market in the South Bronx and at a travel plaza on the New York Thruway, with construction under way at a second Thruway plaza. The rollout in Atlanta is at the Petro Stopping Center at I-285 and Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway, where IdleAire is spending $2.5 million to equip what will eventually be 250 parking spaces.
Unique to this system is the comfort package that results from the anti-idling premise. As well as the ducted heating or cooling, the service module — which fits into the cab side-window — includes a "Pentium-class computer with a color touch screen." This permits the delivery of a whole lot more.
Here's what users get for a $1.25 hourly fee, which the truck owner pays: Individually controlled (and filtered) heat and air with adjustable blower; 120V electrical outlets inside and out (no additional charge for power used); Pentium-class, color touch screen computer with high-speed Internet access, USB ports for keyboard, mouse or other accessories; phone jack for free local and incoming calls in the privacy of the cab (long distance calls require a phone card) and coordinated with the local 9-1-1 system; 20 television stations; IdleAire email account; access to AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail email; unlimited email and Internet privileges; staff on site 24/7 and a customer help desk available 24/7.
"You can see this is quite a package for $1.25/hour," says John Doty, IdleAire's manager of corporate communications. "And while we are an 'electrification' company and an 'idling alternative' company, we are much more. And we are just getting started. We've created an in-cab office and a delivery platform for a wide range of potential services, one of which is the interactive, computer-based driver training by Tread1."
Fleets/owners who have agreements with IdleAire are paying the $1.25/hour because of the savings in fuel and maintenance and the extended engine life. Many of them are also buying it because of driver-retention benefits and better quality rest for safer drivers. Fleets are using their fleet cards for payment.
And it's less than the cost of idling a truck — a gallon of diesel per hour plus additional maintenance and wear & tear from extended idling. And the in-window service unit has its own card swipe slot, so there's no need to pre-pay, Doty adds.
The only services that cost extra are the two additional television packages ($3 each per visit regardless of visit length), movies on demand (which vary in price), the Ethernet jack for drivers with their own computers with Ethernet cards and want the faster service ($3 per visit), and the Tread1 training (which fleets will pay for and hasn't been priced yet).
"There's a one-time charge of $10 to purchase the adapter that fits into the window opening, too," Doty explains. "But I would have thought any trucking company would leap at the opportunity to reimburse drivers who take advantage of the IdleAire service. They could even let drivers use the fuel card. On balance, the fleet comes out ahead from the idling savings and has the bonus of providing a very comfortable environment for the driver in his or her own sleeper."
In the works are further rollouts of the service into Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Texas, New York and California — many places where the air conditioning component of the service will be readily appreciated, he says.
"We believe we have created a business solution that is unique in the market in that it places no financial burden on the parking lot operators (they have no capital expense and they share in revenue), the fleets (they pay $1.25 an hour and have no payload, space or maintenance concerns), or the driver (there's no out of pocket unless the driver chooses one of the three premium services)," Doty concludes.
Fuel Crisis continued...
