Debunking the Myths of Idling
19 Oct 2016
When you stop a car and the engine continues to run, this is known as idling. Idling happens and there is no way to avoid it in cases when you’re sitting at traffic lights or stuck in traffic. However, some drivers sit at people’s houses leaving their engine running for hours while making a delivery, waiting on someone, or for some other reason. This causes air pollutants that contribute to global warming and if you are in the fleet business, wasted fuel, added expenses, and wear and tear on your company vehicles. There are many myths of idling too that need to be debunked.
Common Myths of Idling
Warming Up Your Car
A common myth is that you have to warm your car up by idling before you can drive. This is not true, especially in modern vehicles. Driving it is the best way to warm it up.
Start and Stop Engine
Another myth is that you can damage the engine of your vehicle by starting and stopping it. Any damage starting and stopping your car would cause to your engine is insignificant. Idling the engine, on the other hand, causes the engine to not reach the necessary temperatures to fully combust fuel. This can leave behind clogs in your engine and result in damage and costly repairs.
Idling Uses Less Fuel
Yet another myth is that you use less fuel to leave a car idling than you do to start and stop the engine. The truth is, if you plan on leaving your car idling for over 10 seconds, turning the engine off is more efficient since that 10 seconds of fuel burning while left idling is equivalent to the exact amount it would burn to turn off your car and turn it back on.
Not only are your drivers wasting fuel by idling company vehicles, but they are also using up fuel. Vehicles can burn up to 7/10 of a gallon of fuel an hour with an idling engine; diesel trucks a gallon. In fact, when your drivers idle a car for just a couple of minutes, they are using the same amount of fuel as if they drove for a mile. Not only this, but the exhaust from the vehicles are releasing pollutants like carbon dioxide (CO2) into the air when either driving or idling and since idling burns more fuel, it would seem it releases more CO2. This is bad for the environment and can aggravate different disorders like lung diseases and asthma.
How GPS Fleet Tracking Helps
Your fleet operation and bottom line can be profoundly impacted by excessive engine idling. By investing in GPS fleet tracking you can monitor your fleet’s idling activities as well as track and report in real-time. This will help you reduce your carbon footprint, save money and keep your company vehicles in good condition for the long-haul.
To learn more about how GPS fleet tracking can help with idling, contact us here at Live View GPS at 1-888-544-0494.
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