Just ran across a stat that blew my mind about diesel emissions

I was reading through some SAE papers last night and found out that a single semi truck idling for 10 hours burns through about 10 gallons of diesel. That's like $40 down the drain for nothing. And it dumps nearly 200 pounds of CO2 into the air. Makes me wonder why more fleets don't push for APUs or shore power hookups. Has anyone here actually switched to an APU and seen real savings?

3 comments

3 Comments

west.richard7d ago

Man that stat is just WILD. It really puts into perspective how much fuel is wasted every single day just from trucks sitting still. I feel the same way, it seems like a no brainer to me to cut that waste.

finley_gonzalez497d ago

Wait hold on, are we sure it's just wasted fuel though? All those trucks sitting still with their engines running are keeping the cabs at a comfortable temperature for the drivers who have to sleep in them overnight. If you shut off the engine completely, you're basically asking drivers to freeze during winter or bake in summer, which doesn't seem fair after they've been driving for 10 hours straight. Plus the cost of installing and maintaining those auxiliary power units everyone keeps talking about isn't cheap either, especially for smaller trucking companies that are already struggling with thin margins.

wyatt_mitchell264d ago

Yeah I get what you're saying, it's not like drivers are just sitting there for fun... my buddy drives a truck out of Ohio and he told me about one time his truck broke down in a rest stop in Kansas last summer. It was pushing 105 outside and he had to stay in the cab for almost 18 hours waiting for a tow. He said if he'd shut off the engine he would've been cooked alive in there. But then he also told me some of the guys he knows actually sleep in their cabs with the heat on in winter and wake up to find their rigs covered in ice because the exhaust melts it and then it refreezes everywhere... like that can't be good for the truck either.