IdleAire is expanding into the fleet market with its first terminal installation. The idling-alternative company soon will begin building a 50-truck facility at the Arrow Trucking home terminal in Tulsa, Okla.
The companies made the announcement at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas.
“This is our first move off the truck stop lot,” said David Everhart, IdleAire’s chief operating officer. “We expect there to be a lot of business at terminal facilities in the next six months.”
Arrow is one of IdleAire’s biggest customers, buying more than 112,000 hours of service in the past few years.
IdleAire has installed truck stop electrification facilities at two dozen locations and plans for 70 more truck stop installations in the next 12 months. The company provides 110-volt electrical outlets, filtered heat and air, high-speed Internet and other services through systems that fit into a truck window. Drivers pay about $1.60 an hour for service and don’t have to idle their engines to heat or cool their cabs or run appliances.
“We love the system,” said Bob Fitzgerald, Arrow’s COO. “This has three gigantic benefits for us. First, there’s business savings in the fuel that we don’t use.” It also helps the company meet qualifications for the Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay Transport Partnership, and it’s being used to recruit and retain drivers, Fitzgerald said.
Everhart said more than 1,200 fleets currently are using the system, many paying for their drivers’ use as a way to reduce costs and comply with environmental regulations.
