IdleAire Technologies Corp. has begun construction on a $2.5 million Advanced Travel Center Electrification project to provide heating, cooling and a range of communications and entertainment packages to long-haul truck drivers who park and rest at the Petro Stopping Center
at I-285 and Donald Lee Hollowell Parkway (formerly Bankhead Highway).
The new IdleAire system enables drivers to turn off their engines instead of idling them to provide heat and air conditioning while they rest. This improves air quality, reduces noise levels, provides travel center operators a new source of revenue, and decreases the normal costs of fuel and maintenance for truck owners as much as 40%, according to IdleAire. The company says the hourly service price of the basic services is less than the cost of the diesel fuel used to idle a heavy-duty truck each hour.
"We're extremely pleased to be deploying our system at this Petro location in Atlanta," said IdleAire President/CEO Michael C. Crabtree.
"With the intersection of three interstates in the city, it is a high-traffic area and meshes well with our current location in Knoxville, and our upcoming deployment in West Memphis, Ark."
The Atlanta location is the first in Georgia and only the second in the Southeast as the Knoxville, Tenn., company begins large-scale deployment of the IdleAire system this year. Work under way is the first phase of the planned installation of 250 Petro parking spaces. Construction on the first phase will be complete within 45 days.
IdleAire systems have already been deployed at Petro in Knoxville, at Hunts Point Cooperative Market in the South Bronx and at a travel plaza on the New York Thruway. Construction is under way at a second Thruway plaza, plans for a third are under review, and the Thruway Authority has announced plans to deploy the system throughout the largest toll road facility in the nation if the pilot program continues to be successful.
"We are very pleased with the truckstop electrification project on the New York Thruway," said John Platt, executive director of the organization. "Not only does it provide truck operators with an alternative to idling their engines, it also improves the air quality in the neighborhoods adjacent to our travel plazas."
In addition to Atlanta, IdleAire is engineering 16 additional sites for new system deployments in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Texas, New York and California.
The IdleAire system can be installed in travel centers, loading facilities, truck terminals, border crossings, port facilities and many other locations.
The IdleAire system delivers heat, air and other services to the cab via a service delivery module that fits in the truck window using a simple-to-install $10 adapter that drivers carry. Drivers select desired services using the module, which is driven by a Pentium-class computer with a color touch screen.
In addition to heat and air, the basic service package includes:
· High-speed Internet accessibility via the touch screen
· USB connections for a keyboard or other computer accessories
· E-mail accessibility with personal E-mail accounts
· Local and long distance telephone service access
· Television connection and access to satellite television
· Electrical outlets inside and out for fuel and engine block heaters, and 110-volt appliances inside the cab
· On-site IdleAire personnel and help desk available around the clock.
Cost of the basic service is $1.25 an hour for independent truck owners and fleets that have signed agreements with IdleAire. Payment is made by swiping a fleet card, credit card or pre-paid IdleAire card through the service module's integral card reader.
The services are delivered to the window-mounted module by a flexible concentric hose at each parking space. The hose and cabling are connected to an overhead truss, where the heating and cooling units -- one for each parking space -- are mounted.
For more information, go to www.idleaire.com, or call (865) 342-3600.