IdleAire’s opening of the first Advanced Travel Center Electrification (ATE) in a Pilot Travel Center in late July was judged a success by both companies.

IdleAire opened up its first Pilot Travel Center project (an installation of 62 equipped spaces in Madera, Calif.) to drivers at 4:38 p.m. By 6 p.m. all available spaces were full and drivers were staging their trucks in a line waiting for an IdleAire space to become available. Fifty-two percent of the first customers said they had used the IdleAire system elsewhere in the country.
IdleAire COO David Everhart said the Madera opening was the most successful first day at any IdleAire installation.
Everhart said that, with Pilot’s approval, IdleAire was able to change the traffic flow, making the parking easier for drivers to use, and changing parking habits before the site opened. "That had a very positive impact on that site, because drivers had accepted changes in traffic direction and accepted nose-in parking rather than back-in parking before we ever opened."
"Our experience with this first site has justified the faith Pilot had in IdleAire when we signed our agreement," said Jimmy Haslam, Pilot’s CEO. "If anything, we are even more excited now because we’ve witnessed on our own site the reception drivers are giving IdleAire and we are more firmly convinced that IdleAire is this nation’s best solution to the challenge of idling reduction."
Two more IdleAire installations at Pilot sites -- in Newnan, Ga., and Gary, Ind. -- are scheduled to open in September. To date, drivers have used the IdleAire system nearly 1.9 million hours, saving nearly 2 million gallons of diesel.
For IdleAire locations and other information, visit www.idleaire.com.