Truck idling and the environment
We often get asked, why do your drivers leave the trucks idling when they leave the truck? This is an excellent question.
I have researched this internally and have asked our VP Ops to explain to me why this is the case.
Urban Impact’s fleet of diesel trucks are all turbo charged diesels. They are the cleanest combustion engines in the market place. When the trucks are working under a heavy load (carrying their cargo) the exhaust gas temperatures are very high (1000 degrees F), this is hotter then a barbeque! If these engines are shut down immediately after working hard (carrying their cargo) it may result in premature bearing failure (in the turbo charger) and this is a very costly repair (in excess of $10k). If the trucks have worked under load conditions, they need to run for approximately 5 minutes to cool down before they can be shut off. Urban Impact trucks all have anti idling technology. This means that if the temperatures have decreased enough to be warrent shut off, the truck does so automatically if they are in Park.
The Hybrid truck that we put into operation in August of 2009 is the ultimate anti idling machine. This truck can work (while parked) on its Hybrid battery. We have tested and measured the results of the Hybrid’s performance and are very pleased with the results. The Hybrid truck consumes 50% less fuel then its equivalent counterpart. In addition the truck engine hours are 50% less then its counterpart. This is a remarkable “savings” and achieves a remarkable improvement in its impact on the environement. The Hybrid truck we employ works best in an urban or dense client setting, the benefits are not achieved in a more rural or driving style route.
Urban Impact hopes to move all office paper and shredding trucks to Hybrid technology in the next 4 years.
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