Bankrupt IdleAire Inc. Closes Down After 10 Years of Offering Idle-Reduction Facilities at Truck Stops

This story appears in the Feb. 8 print edition of Transport Topics.

IdleAire Inc., which used federal funds to help build equipment to reduce truck-stop idling and increase drivers’ off-duty comfort, shut down abruptly on Jan. 29.

The company, founded in 2000 to deliver communications, entertainment and cab temperature control through a single electric hookup at truck stops, had been operating in bankruptcy since May. Industry officials said the company was overwhelmed by powerful technological and economic forces.

Backed by as much as $55 million in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency funds, IdleAire had intended to reduce emissions by allowing resting drivers to avoid idling their engines. The closing halted operations at 131 locations, primarily TravelCenters of America and Petro Stopping Centers.

“IdleAire was doomed,” said Ike Brown, vice chairman of NFI Industries, because the recession reduced the number of trucks on the road that could stop at places where the equipment was installed.

At the same time, Brown said, advancements in auxiliary power units and computer technology overtook the package of services that were bundled into IdleAire’s delivery system — an air duct linked to electronic overhead power at each parking spot.

“We switched to APUs,” he said, “because the technology came along far enough. At the start [IdleAire] was more economical, plus it was more of a creature comfort for the driver.”

APUs were “an expensive item at $6,000 to $7,000, but we had more control of it,” he explained, because the driver didn’t have to stop at an IdleAire location to rest. Drivers also became more computer savvy, he said, and could use laptops for communications instead of IdleAire facilities.

The advent of APUs also convinced Averitt Express Inc. to switch to those units as the preferred method to reduce fuel use and emissions, said Christopher Asberry, communications coordinator.

“We were one of the first to begin using IdleAire,” Asberry said. “At the time it was pretty ingenious. It was a great way to reduce fuel usage.”

‘The economics didn’t work out for us — Swift has a very effective no-idle program,” including driver training and alternatives such as cab heaters, said Swift Transportation Corp. Vice President Dave Berry.

IdleAire first filed for bankruptcy in 2008 and emerged later that year when six investment management companies bought the company for $17.5 million. Early in May 2009, the revived company again filed for bankruptcy protection, listing about $2.50 in debts for every $1 of assets.

Local newspaper reports in Knoxville, Tenn., said the closing, which was announced in a Web posting, left 300 workers without jobs, including 65 in IdleAire’s headquarters in that city.

To the end, IdleAire claimed on its Web site that its technology was making a difference, saying it had saved 50 million gallons of diesel fuel and reduced emissions by allowing drivers to turn off their engines.

Federal support included a 2004 visit to IdleAire headquarters by EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt, as IdleAire was building its service network.

“We are going to make that burst of black smoke that erupts from diesels a thing of the past,” Leavitt said.

EPA didn’t respond to requests last week for comment on Idle-Aire’s closing.

IdleAire didn’t respond to requests for comment. E-mails weren’t returned, and the company’s telephone system only had a recorded message about the closing.

TravelCenters, owner of Petro, also didn’t return calls or e-mails requesting comment about how the closing would affect the company, where 108 of 131 IdleAire installations were located.

IdleAire claimed that 150,000 drivers, about 5% of the U.S. driver corps, used the equipment.

Several factors in addition to the low usage rate could limit potential gains for APU makers following IdleAire’s demise, several suppliers said.

“I don’t think that the fact that a driver can’t use it anymore means that he will spend $7,000 to $9,000 on an APU,” said Lou Siegel, senior vice president of APU maker Dometic Corp. “If there was a stronger economy, there might be a different answer. It may make a little difference, but not much.”

“Their heart was in the right place,” said Dean Lande, business development manager for Carrier Transicold. “The government business model didn’t match what the actual demand was. It was prohibitively expensive [at least $25,000 per space to install]. In this climate where demand dropped off, they couldn’t recoup their original investment.”

“Their existing customers will probably look toward us,” Lande said, though he added that he did not expect much new business.

He estimated that electrified parking spots represented about 5% of the nationwide estimated total of 350,000 truck parking spaces.

Parking spaces remain a key issue for trucking.

“Anything that has the effect of taking good parking opportunities away from the industry is and will continue to be a concern,” said Dave Osiecki, senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs for American Trucking Associations.

“Whether it’s through incentives for businesses such as IdleAire or through funding and state prioritization to build additional spaces, or whatever the appropriate intervention is, the government needs to be involved in this,” Osiecki said.

Senior Reporter Sean McNally contributed to this story.