IDLE REDUCTION
Yeah, I know that today is the first day of the 3-day CVSA inspection blitz, but since all of our folks are getting clean inspections, I thought we’d look at something else. Summer’s here and with it comes smog, yep boys and girls, trapped ozone that makes everybody’s breathing difficult. Diesel engines cause more than their share and they are on the radar screens of the EPA, as well as state and local jurisdictions. The EPA has continually tightened the screws on exhaust from trucks, cars, motorcycles and virtually anything else with an internal combustion engine. That will continue. State and local jurisdictions have greatly restricted idling of diesel engines. Some, such as California, have pretty stiff fines to go with the ticket. We expect more states to follow suit. We also expect to see idle reduction regulation in metro Louisville in the not too distant future. A pretty handy compendium of no-idle laws around the country is at www.atri-online.org.
It is important that everyone be thinking about reducing their idling. If you are in the market for an APU, I’ll give you a couple of contacts: Barry Zink at Whayne Supply in Louisville . Call him at 800-494-2963 or www.whayne.com.
Mark Pusateri at Envirofleet, www.enviro-fleet.com has some sweet component deals APU’s, backwall units, rooftop units and under-bunk a/c-Espar heat units. Mark can be reached at 800-741-6603. Both Barry and Mark know Mercer and will do their best to get you what you need at a fair price.
In Louisville, remember: Both Lot 2 (Drivers Lounge) and Lot 3 (Recruiting) have free shore power outlets at all parking spaces. Bring your 100 foot extension cord and plug in. Or run your APU. We do not want Mercer units idling for prolonged periods in any of our lots. We are not going to be a bad neighbor in downtown Louisville. Drivers that portray us in that light will most likely get to represent someone else. As you all know, the trucking industry has many bull’s eyes on its back. The EPA one is growing larger by the day. That is the reality of our business.
Reducing your idling reduces pollution, reduces fuel consumption and reduces wear and tear on the tractor engine. None of that is a bad thing.
all of us can,t afford to buy an apu
Amen Jesse,
The last two years have stripped my entire savings and added about $5k to my credit card just to be able to make repairs. Then I had another driver back into my truck, and discovered while going through the insurance process that an apu would cost more than my truck was worth – according to the insurance co. anyway!
Len, is KY, or the city of Louisville, or anybody providing some grant $$ for an apu?
Hi there. Jennifer and I recently joined Mercer during MATS this year. While we were going through orientation we plugged in our shore power to about 7 or 8 outlets and they didn’t work.
I question whether it was the Mercer ports or our truck. We ran our generator the whole time. Later we stayed at my sisters RV park and our shore power worked perfect. The ports that we had problems with were at the drivers lounge parking lot and the poles were on the same side as the building,
kind of in the middle area. I left a message with security at the time so I ‘m not sure if he passed this info on to anyone.
Thanks for the tip on the APU’s – we were in the market and the timing was right for us – and the savings were significant over what prices we had been quoted previously. We look forward to getting our installed!
Thank god i had the sense and the $$$$ to buy my APU 4 years ago.I do not have the money now for such an investment and i would not take on the debt!!!!!
When i look at the rates we have absorbed a $1.50 per gallon fuel with no rate increases.How can anyone justify the expence?
So how does all this no idling really, really work with the various states when it comes to the ” clean idle certified ” engines ?
great idea on the shore power but we are unable to use the air conditioner because it trips the ground fault breaker as soon as it kicks on but we are able to run a fan and charge my batteries.
Wow, I lit up a few with this one! Neil, Jesse and Steve have mentioned the primo problem with this, which of course is the lack of funds to buy one. I am fully aware of that and that is why I don’t require Mercer units to have APU’s. On the other hand, it is important to understand that a lot of these governmental jurisdictions simply do not care whether or not you can afford one. They have passed these no-idle laws, and continue to pass no-idle laws with no uniformity and in many cases, no logic. That is why it is important to download the ATRI information and carry it with you so you know what the local situations are.
As for Brother Bobo, if you have a “clean idle certified” engine you can run it without an APU. We have a few of those on lease now. We haven’t had any problems with them idling in California, or anywhere else.
I am concerned about the comments on the Mercer shore power. Rod and Jennifer, we have a problem over there…the outlets were run hot through the lot light circuit. When the timer kicks the light on, you have power. When it turns the light off, guess what? James Hyden, the Facility Manager, is supposed to be getting those rewired, but I don’t know where on his schedule that project is.
Charles, some of the circuits are 30 amp, the rest were 20 amp, so your A/C may work on some and not others. Generally, the ones closest to the electrical service boxes will work the best for stuff like that because the cable runs are shorter and there consequently is less resistance in the circuit. If Security at night or on weekends can’t help you, have them call James Hyden. If they can’t get him, call me.
By the way, concerning APU funding, we have looked a BUNCH of places for grant money on this and have gotten a lot of talk, but no dollars. None in Kentucky. ATRI had put in for an EPA grant a year or so ago and we had a number included in that, but the grant was not funded. It is a serious problem for owner-operators and small fleets….they keep pumping out the rules and small businesses have virtually no financial way to comply.
Thanks for the feed back Len.
OOIDA has a link for APU funding sources, but it’s the same there. It all depends on where you live + whether you’re a minority, or not.
My last hope was for the city of Louisville to have a special offer for Mercer, for the obvious reasons; ha, obvious to me anyway!
Jim, I have one of the clean idle trucks and the sticker on the hood only applies to the state of California. Some other places will let you idle with it but it is up the the person enforcing the idling restriction. Personally, I wouldn’t even try it in Dallas or San Antonio. I haven’t had any problems with Pennsylvania or New York yet.
Patrick, we also have a CA sticker. Our resources tell us with the CA hologram, you are 48 state legal, meaning no one has tougher standards than CA; so you should be good to go.