INNOVATION At high-tech truck stop, the engines won't idle

The invention could save up to 2 billion gallons of fuel a year.
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Each night, truck drivers across the United States pull into parking lots off the Interstate to catch some sleep.
They leave their engines running. They have to. It's the only way to power a truck's air conditioning or heater -- plus the refrigerator that many long-haul rigs carry -- without killing the battery.
Those idling trucks burn fuel, up to 2 billion gallons each year, by one estimate. They also pump millions of tons of pollutants into the sky while their drivers sleep.
Many amenities
A Knoxville, Tenn., company wants to switch off those engines. IdleAire Technologies has created a kind of high-tech truck stop that will give drivers air-conditioning, phone service and cable television in their cabs. Working with Cisco Systems, IdleAire will also provide wireless Internet access to truckers and business travelers who need connectivity on the road.
"They won't have to find a coffee shop, an airport or a hotel to have access to the Internet," said David Everhart, IdleAire's senior vice president of strategic relationships. "They can stop at the nearest Interstate exit and receive service in the parking lot without leaving their car."
For Cisco, the tricked-out truck stops represent another way to encourage the spread of wireless. The company will supply IdleAire with access points as well as routers, machines that direct Internet traffic.
"This is yet another building block in creating ubiquitous public access," said Steve Nye, senior director of Cisco's broadband unit. "There are a lot of truck stops in America."
So far, 200 of those stops have agreed to install the IdleAire system.
How it works
The system itself works, in some ways, like a car speaker at a drive-in movie theater.
Trucks pull into bays that feature long, flexible tubes hanging from the roof. Each tube ends in a control panel and vents for heated or cooled air. Drivers pull the apparatus into their window and fasten it there. A touch- sensitive screen on the control panel will let them set the thermostat, check maps of the area or surf the Internet.
Basic services cost $1.25 per hour for truck owners or fleets that have signed agreements with IdleAire, with fees payable through a credit-card reader above a computer screen.
Truckers or travelers interested only in the wireless Internet access don't have to pull into the bays. Wireless fees run $1.25 per hour and $3 per day -- payable by credit card -- or $24.95 a month for prepaid access.
Lower cost
The fees should be cheaper than idling a truck. Because federal law requires long-haul truckers to take eight hours off for every 10 spent on the road, most drivers will pay about $10 per day with the IdleAire system, Everhart said. Without it, they spend about $15 to $20 per day on diesel burned while the truck is idling, he said.