When you think of trucking and energy efficiency, you probably think of the numerous driverless technologies that have been implemented in the industry over the years that ensure the ride is as fuel efficient as possible.
One thing that perhaps is not thought of so much is what happens at night time when the drivers are asleep. Typically, drivers will keep the engine running to ensure that the cabin is kept warm as they sleep.
Suffice to say, this represents a pretty wasteful habit, so it’s interesting that a new startup is looking to help regulate the temperature in the cabin without requiring the engine to be left on.
Smart heating
The venture, called Idle Smart, operates in a similar way to Nest and allows drivers to program when heat should come on in their cabin.
The device consists of a smart thermostat and an accompanying Android app. This allows drivers, or even the fleet manager to control temperatures from either within the cabin or even remotely.
Usage is very straightforward, with users loading up the app and punching in the temperature they’d like to maintain. Then, if the temperature drops below this as they sleep, the system will run the engine until the temperature returns to above this desire figure.
Similarly, if the battery begins to run low, the system is capable of automatically running the engine to help avoid the need to replace expensive batteries.
The system comes via a monthly license fee, but the makers predict that it can easily save companies many thousands per year, whilst also reducing the pollution caused by over-running engines.
It offers fleet managers a range of diagnostic tools to allow them to easily see the usage (and saving) from each vehicle. It’s certainly an interesting product. Check out the video below for more information on Idle Smart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKdGxggTMnc
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Doesn't idle smart keeping starting and stopping the engine? I would hate that if I was trying to sleep.
Problem with any systems that start and stop your motor:
First off, your motor burns 1 gal/hour idleing, an apu burns .3ish. If you own your truck, its hard on the motor to keep starting and stopping. The worst thing you can do to your motor is start it. Once its started it is proprly lubed and ok, but durring the start some of the parts are dry. If you starting several times a night, this will kill the life of your motor.
I borrowed one of our trucks that had Idle Smart installed in it and played around with the system. System worked reasonably well in maintaining engine and interior temperature but the only issue I had was the starting interrupted the power to the inverter which caused my cpap machine to shut down briefly, waking me up.