BACKGROUND
Trucks idle for a wide variety of reasons—from truck driver comfort and safety to congestion and vocational operations. However, truck idling is a significant source of air pollution, potential health risks, operating costs, and fuel consumption. A number of public and private efforts aimed at reducing idling have been adopted, including programs to encourage the deployment of standby power systems to reduce truck idling. While data exist on truck emissions while idling, recent data on the time trucks spend idling are anecdotal or speculative; furthermore, idle time can vary significantly with a number of different factors such as climate or congestion. Decisionmakers need robust estimates of the time trucks spend standing still with the engine running when considering idle reduction strategies. Historically, only limited information has been available and used for broadly characterizing truck idling activities, fuel consumption, and emissions across national and regional heavy duty truck fleets. This limited information may not adequately reflect the variability across all types of trucking operations. Idling fuel consumption and emissions are believed to be a function of engine technology, vehicle equipment, freight operations, vocation, driver comfort, and safety. Advances in engine control modules and GPS have the potential to provide a new perspective. Enhanced data sets could be used to better characterize the variability of the contributing factors in truck idling activity across all truck classes and operations. However, there are many challenges to capturing truck idling data to provide decisionmakers with robust estimates of time trucks spend standing still with the engine running when considering idle reduction strategies.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this research is to develop a plan for decisionmakers that provides the scope, methods, and cost estimates for obtaining national and regional data sets for the time and corresponding fuel consumed by on-road trucks while idling. The data sets shall include truck characteristics, type of operation, and the causes of the idling. The plan will be used in a follow-on study to provide guidance on how to apply and supplement the idling estimates at the local level.
TASKS
(1). Evaluate existing estimates of truck idling—including international examples—with an emphasis on data collection, methodology, and data gaps. Sources should include, but not be limited to, State Implementation Plans (SIPs), ports, truck operators, truck engine and truck manufacturers, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analyses, on-board technology providers, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Energy, and California Air Resources Board. (2). Identify and evaluate potential new sources of idling data that have not traditionally been used—such as combined location data and engine diagnostic data by engine class—that might be used to time stamp the idling events. Describe issues (e.g., fuel costs, cargo carried, fleet size, model year, registration type and location, seasonality, truck body type, and geography) that could affect data variability.
(3). Based on the results of Task 1 and Task 2, list the most important data elements and the most promising sources of truck idling data required to meet the project objective. Describe how these data elements could relate to current emissions inventory models. Assess the challenges that need to be overcome to adopt the new data sources. (4). Develop a plan for creating national and regional data sets for the time trucks (categorized by fuel type) spend idling and the corresponding fuel consumption by class of truck (e.g., gross vehicle weight, number of axles, Class 2b through Class 8), type of operation served (e.g., parcel, service, truckload, pickup and delivery), and the causes of the idling (e.g., power take off, extended idling, incidents, inspections). The plan should include proposed solutions to overcome challenges identified in Task 3. (5). Six months after contract award, prepare an interim report that describes the results of Tasks 1 through 4 and propose at least three types of operations to validate the plan using case studies. Modify the interim report based on the project panel’s comments. The research agency shall not begin work on the remaining tasks without NCFRP approval. (6). Upon panel approval, validate the plan in three case studies. (7). Prepare a final report that includes the validated plan (i.e., scope, methods, and cost estimates) for obtaining truck idling data at the national and regional level and documents the research used to develop the plan. Provide a research plan to provide guidance on how to apply and supplement the idling estimates at the local level.
