IdleAire Technologies Corp., the New York State Thruway Authority and other project partners recently celebrated the opening of IdleAire’s second Thruway location -- Chittenango Travel Plaza
-- the third IdleAire deployment in New York.
The Thruway was the first superhighway in the nation to provide IdleAire’s card-activated Advanced Travel Center Electrification (ATE) system with installation at DeWitt Travel Plaza.
Like other IdleAire installations being deployed across the country, the new site at Chittenango allows drivers to turn off their engines while they rest, instead of idling to warm or cool the cab or power accessories. Being able to shut the engine off improves driver safety, as well as air quality and noise levels. It also cuts the costs of fuel and maintenance.
"Every IdleAire installation provides benefits for community air quality, but also improves the working environment for the driver who we depend on for so many things," said David Everhart, senior vice president of strategic relationships. "The system saves fleets money and contributes economically to the community. IdleAire creates jobs, prevents the unnecessary consumption of hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel each year, helps drivers rest better and drive more safely, and provides new revenues to the property owner."
Thruway Authority Executive Director Michael R. Fleischer said, "Using only the units at DeWitt, we have saved an estimated 14,360 gallons of diesel fuel and eliminated 2,429 pounds of nitrogen oxide emissions and 335,350 pounds of carbon dioxide from the air" in one year’s time.
The hourly charge for IdleAire’s standard services is less than the cost of the diesel fuel used to idle a heavy-duty truck each hour. IdleAire installs, operates and maintains the system, and shares revenues with parking lot owners.
The IdleAire system delivers heat, air, and communications and entertainment packages to the cab by way of a service delivery module that fits in the truck window using a simple-to-install $10 adapter that drivers carry. Drivers choose services using the module, which is driven by a Pentium-class computer with a color touch screen.
IdleAire also has locations in Knoxville, Tenn., Atlanta, Ga. and in the South Bronx. The company is engineering additional sites for new system deployments in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida, Texas, New York and California, and will make an announcement concerning its national deployment plans on June 10 at the Atlanta Petro. The IdleAire system can be installed in travel centers, loading facilities, truck terminals, border crossings, port facilities and any other location where trucks park and idle for extended periods.
For more information, go to www.idleaire.com, or call (865) 342-3600.