A Comprehensive Guide on What Is Vehicle Idling

Should I let my car idle or turn it off? ~ asks a pizza delivery driver on Reddit

Does idling hurt my engine? ~ asks another Reddit user.

And then there’s a Quora user asking, “What are the consequences of leaving your car idle for too long? Does it ruin the engine? If so, how soon does this happen after starting and letting it idle?” 

These questions indicate one thing: vehicle idling is a concept you can’t overlook, especially if you are a driver or manage a team of drivers.

So, we’ve brought you this blog that answers ‘What is vehicle idling’, the effects it can have, and the strategies to reduce it. 

What is Vehicle Idling?

If you ask ‘What is vehicle idling?’, it means when the engine is running even when the vehicle is not moving. In mechanical terms, an idling engine spins at very low RPMs. It is also known as ‘lugging.’

Engine idling in drivers isn’t always deliberate. Truck drivers mostly keep their vehicle engines running to maintain temperatures while sleeping in the truck. School buses have idle time while waiting for all the children to board. In any case, idling engines burn fuel and spread air pollution.

How long can you leave a car idling?

That’s a common question most drivers ask. Here’s the short answer: there is no fixed number of minutes or hours you can leave it idling. It entirely depends on various factors, including:

1. Overall vehicle condition

If your car is new and has thermostats, fan belts, and hoses in optimal condition, your car can idle for up to even one hour. However, it will put undue stress and increase your car’s wear/tear.

2. Amount of fuel or gas

It is another factor that decides how long a car can idle. If your vehicle runs out of fuel, it will stop idling immediately.

3. Batter charge

Your vehicle will idle as long as its battery doesn’t drain completely. Once your vehicle’s battery is over, you must recharge it before starting the car engine.

How much does idling cost?

Vehicles can use more gas than anticipated during idle time. This directly impacts the gas expenses, as your drivers might need to refuel vehicles more often.

However, no two vehicles spend the same amount of fuel during idling time. It varies based on factors such as engine size, weight, and fuel type used. Let’s find some stats on the gas usage associated with idling.

Research reveals that idling from heavy-duty and light-duty vehicles combined wastes about 6 billion gallons of fuel annually. 

• Talking of the gas usage for non-diesel engines and idling cars, smaller vehicles generally use less gas while idling. As per a report, the usage of non-diesel fuel for a compact sedan with no load is about 0.16 gallons per hour of idling. It means that idling can greatly impact the drivers constantly on the road. 
• Idling diesel engines and trucks waste more fuel compared to smaller vehicles. A report shows that idling heavy-duty trucks use around 0.8 gallons of fuel per hour. Truck drivers mostly leave their vehicles idle when they are resting. Let’s say it is a 10-hour time window. This would result in the wastage of up to 8 gallons of fuel.

Moreover, when your drivers take lunch breaks, it could increase the cost and hence, the wasted fuel. A long-haul truck might idle badly and burn fuel for about 1800 hours over a year. This roughly comes to 1500 gallons of diesel being used. 

Let’s talk about the prices associated with vehicle idling for different types of vehicles.

The rest-period idling of long-haul sleeper trucks consumes up to 1 billion gallons of fuel annually, which costs around $3 billion.

Idling of emergency vehicles is estimated to waste over 725 million gallons of fuel annually, which costs over $2.2 billion.

The Detrimental Effects of Excessive Idling

What’s bad about car idling? ~ a Reddit user asks.

Let’s find out the answer to it.

Keeping a vehicle idle is more harmful than starting and stopping the engine. Idling is said to cause twice the damage to the internal parts of a vehicle as compared to regular driving. Here are a few ways in which idling can impact your business:

1. Wastage of fuel and increased operational costs

Being a business owner, it is important to see where your expenses are wasted. Specifically, if you handle large fleets, such as in the logistics industry, you might try to find ways to reduce fuel costs. However, when drivers leave vehicles idle during heavy traffic on the road or long parking duration, they indirectly affect fuel usage.

As we saw earlier, there’s a high amount of fuel wasted when idling a vehicle. This directly impacts the fuel expenses, thus hampering your business.  Although a gallon may seem small, it can add up to overall fuel wastage over time. 

2. Impact on vehicle maintenance and reliability

The belief that leaving the vehicle idle for some time saves fuel and doesn’t damage the engine is wrong. The engine wear caused by idling increases the cost of maintenance.

If the engine is beyond maintenance, replacing it can cost even more. When a vehicle is idling, it isn’t operating at a normal temperature. So, the residue left due to low combustion of fuel wears off the exhaust system, thermostats, and fan belts.

3. Reduced productivity and fewer deliveries

When drivers are stuck in traffic and have no way to reach their destination earlier, their deliveries are sure to get delayed. As a result of late deliveries, your customer satisfaction level goes down. 

This also means that your drivers may not be able to finish their delivery quotas. Eventually, you will have fewer deliveries and may need to invest in more drivers and vehicles to meet the demand.

4. Negative health consequences for drivers

There are many chemicals and carcinogenic components present in gasoline. 

Hence, the air surrounding an idling vehicle can be harmful to breathing. This can result in damaged lungs, heart disease, asthma, or other health problems for drivers. It means idling also impacts the drivers’ health.

5. Significant environmental impact

University of California’s research reveals that heavy-truck idling releases over 11 million tons of carbon dioxide and 180,000 tons of NOx annually. 

So, idling your vehicles, especially commercial ones, for long can result in pollution and poor air quality. It eventually results in climate change with an increased carbon footprint and accelerates phenomena like global warming and ozone layer depletion. 

6. Increased risk of theft

If you leave a vehicle idle and unattended, a thief might get into it and drive off. Even though GPS tracking has increased chances of recovery these days, vehicle theft leads to significant inconvenience and costly downtime.

States with Anti-Idling Legislation

There are some states and local governments that restrict idling and charge fines to drivers for violating their anti-idling laws. Some states also limit running engines when parked for up to three, five, or ten minutes.

Here are a few states with anti-idling laws:

Arizona	Colorado	California	Connecticut	Delaware
Georgia	Illinois	Maryland	Vermont	Maine
Ohio	Pennsylvania	Utah	Minnesota	Massachusetts
New York	New Jersey	New Hampshire	North Carolina	Texas

Effective Strategies to Reduce Vehicle Idling

Now that you know the issues that can arise due to idling, finding the right solutions can help avoid it. Businesses or drivers who have daily transport operations can adopt the below techniques to stop idling time and save money:

Optimize routes for efficiency

Using optimization to plan delivery routes is another way to reduce idling. It lets you find the best sequence of stops for faster deliveries. 

A route planning software will help schedule deliveries in the same region so drivers can complete them in one go. As a result, there are fewer chances of idle time, and better chances of multiple deliveries.

Implement idle reduction technologies

• Fleet managers and individual vehicle operators can buy auxiliary power units (APUs) to stop idling. An APU device supplies cooling, heating, and electrical power that can be used during the resting period of a truck driver. This way they can have a comfortable time in their cabins without having to burn fuel. 
• You can even get GPS fleet tracking software to prevent vehicles from idling in your fleet. Such software can be beneficial in collecting data about their vehicles and drivers. Fleet managers will be able to track the speed and location of their vehicles with GPS technologies. When they have information on engine status, they can improve the driver’s performance if required and reduce idling.

Educate drivers on proper idling practices

Business owners or managers must have regular training sessions to coach drivers about idling. When you teach drivers the ways to reduce idling, they can include the best practices from the start. You must instruct them to turn off if they need to idle for more than a few seconds.

Incentivize drivers to encourage reducing idling

If you offer incentives to drivers, it can encourage them to reduce idling. For instance, you can consider rewarding drivers with the best fuel economy every month or quarter. You can also have drivers contribute a small amount of money that can go to the one with the least idling time.

Using Technology to Optimize Routing and Minimize Idling

If you wish to reduce fuel consumption and make cost-efficient deliveries in your transport business, you need something extra for a competitive edge. Switching to a route optimization software is an excellent way to save money on transportation. Upper Route Planner gives you the ability to automatically assign routes to multiple drivers and add multiple stops.

Let’s look at the key features of Upper.

1. Cost-efficient route planning

Are you wasting a lot of money on unplanned routes? Upper Route Planner helps you save expenses on fuel with an effective route optimization algorithm. Our dynamic route scheduling software provides the best optimized routes to help you ensure that your drivers spend the least amount of idle time on the road. This reduces excessive idling, thereby reducing fuel costs.

2. Route optimization 

Did you know you can save more fuel when you can prioritize delivery stops? Our intelligent software optimizes routes around the stops you set on high or crucial priority. With Upper, you can also schedule suitable routes for drivers based on the vehicle they are using. This will help ensure they reach their destination without keeping their engine running over idling.

3. One-click dispatch

What more do you need when you can optimize routes and dispatch them to multiple drivers in just a click? You can share delivery details with your drivers through an email/text message or through the driver app. This way they can get going with their orders without having to visit the depot. If one of your drivers isn’t available, you can also reassign a route to another driver. 

Learn more about using the features of Upper by signing up for a 7 days free trial!

Conclusion: Taking Action to Improve Fuel Efficiency and Environmental Impact

Idling is meant to happen with the number of vehicles and trucks on the road. It may not seem harmful, but slowly and steadily, it can impact everyone on a big level. It doesn’t just waste a significant amount of fuel but also releases toxins into the air. Making use of the right technologies can bring down a lot of idling time and diesel fuel costs.

Thankfully, you have Upper as your route optimization software! It will ensure that you have the best and most effective route plans scheduled for multiple drivers. In a few seconds, you can upload addresses from your excel sheet and get your drivers to do the tasks. With accurate ETAs and customer notifications, you can also take the added benefit of customer satisfaction. Start your 7 days FREE trial now.