Anti-Idling Laws Are Idiotic

So I was looking into California's Anti-idling laws, and I discovered that other states have them too. There are places in California that reach 120F, and most places in California reach 100F fairly often in the summer. These laws could actually kill truckers. Further, no truck driver is going to be driving safely when they can't sleep because it's too hot. It's putting everyone in danger.

So many truck drivers are put in the position to either break the law and sleep, or to follow the law and possibly die. That is utter bull****.

Trucking companies are partly to blame because this could be solved with APUs and EPUs. An APU or EPU is better for the environment, so really, a solution to this nonsense is mandated APUs/EPUs in trucks that have sleepers.

What do you guys think?

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

EPU:

Electric Auxiliary Power Units

Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices

Epus:

Electric Auxiliary Power Units

Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices

Mandated like the stupid shot?? No, companies should NOT be required to have an APU/EPU....it's just one more thing to break and put you in a hotel for a day, two, 3 or longer.

While I haven't been in California for close to a year, before that time I never had any problems idling. I was in California every week running to the port in Oakland. Everyone idled. The trucks aren't putting out all those emissions like you think they are. Motors have been proved vastly over the past 15 + years.

Laura

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

EPU:

Electric Auxiliary Power Units

Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices

There are exceptions to these laws and they aren't really enforced anywhere in the country, besides a few cases here or there. I've idled my truck as needed in 47 lower states(including CA).

APUs cost a lot of money to buy and maintain, so companies don't generally want to buy something unnecessary when the truck can do the same thing but better. My company uses opti idle, where the truck will stop and start as needed to keep the inside of the truck cooled down to a certain temperature.

Plus in my experience, APUs aren't always the better option. The last company I worked for had APUs, but the AC provided by the APU wasn't powerful enough during those very hot days to keep my truck cooled down, so I would be burning up inside the truck. Then since I had an APU, they would complain if I idled the truck more then 5-7% of the time.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

California is BS, that's why I relocated my family. But, I'm confused, didn't you just say in another thread that you don't want to idle your future truck because it's not environmentally friendly?

Anyway, newer trucks generally are CA Clean Idle certified, which is an emissions standard that exempts from the state law, save for defined "restricted areas." APUs and EPUs are great, but here are some things that folks who are new to the industry fail to take into account:

They add about 500lbs of weight to the tractor, and a handful of states, including CA, still do not offer an APU weight exemption. For those who do offer an exemption, it's between 440lbs and 550lbs, added to the drives only, and there is no exemption to the overall gross vehicle limit, resulting in a reduced load capacity. To you, the may not seem significant, but after an 18 hour rework you might disagree.

They're an expensive upfront add-on that many smaller carriers operating on paper-thin margins simply can't afford.

An APU runs a 2.2 liter diesel engine that is exempt from emissions standards with unfiltered exhaust and is louder than my Detroit outside the truck. An EPU charges while the truck engine runs, and discharges when the truck engine is off until it must recharge, then it automatically starts the truck engine, shaking the sleeping driver awake and idling the engine until the EPU battery bank is recharged.

They can fail for many reasons, leaving the driver without air conditioning, heating, fan and electrical power, and even dead truck batteries. You might think "no worries, I'll just idle at that point." But....SURPRISE! Your carrier installed these systems to save fuel, and with the exception of freezing or boiling temperatures, your truck's software will prevent you from idling your truck engine longer than 5 minutes. Now, there are various ways to get around this restriction, but you may be putting your job at risk.

Ok, that's enough bashing TriPack. All that said, I love my TK APU even with all the issues, everyone learns to live with them. I got mine brand new and now have 8100 hours in it, it has failed 4 or 5 times, each time required a shop, and about half were covered under warranty.

I have to respectfully disagree with your statement that a government mandate is the way to go. When bureaucrats without a clue start regulating what they don't understand the consequences are far reaching: there are a great many examples of this that we will not get into here.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

EPU:

Electric Auxiliary Power Units

Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices

Epus:

Electric Auxiliary Power Units

Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices

I have an older tripac on my Pete. It currently has 18,950 for hours. I have had to put some money in it, but it has still saved all those hours off of my Cummins. It will roast you out of the truck on heat and freeze on a/c. I am a big fan.

California is BS, that's why I relocated my family. But, I'm confused, didn't you just say in another thread that you don't want to idle your future truck because it's not environmentally friendly?

You're right. I did say that. Good memory. However, I would idle if I had to.

Anyway, I did not know about opti-idle. I also didn't know that APUs aren't necessarily good enough to keep you cool, which Jamie pointed out. I didn't know that most newer trucks were CA clean idle certified. Nor did I consider the added weight being a problem, all of which Trucker Chris (CK) pointed out.

Some very thoughtful posts. Consider me humbled.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Rules created by other socialists. I figured you would get excited over more pointless regulations, Chris P.

Rules created by other socialists. I figured you would get excited over more pointless regulations, Chris P.

I agree with the spirit of the law, and I don't think it's pointless at all, but I don't think they implemented it right. The idea is to cut down on pollution... they should have mandated possible alternatives for trucks with sleepers rather than potentially making truck drivers cook inside their sleepers. Also, I'm not that socialistic. Like I said before, on a political compass, I lean slightly socialistic and slightly libertarian. I don't fit the democrat or socialist mold very well. For example, I thought Rittenhouse was innocent when I watched the videos - he was clearly defending himself. Further, like I said before, I am against gun control and abortion.

When I posted this, I didn't realize there were already legal exceptions for most truck drivers. I am thankful for it.

Rules created by other socialists. I figured you would get excited over more pointless regulations, Chris P.

What is the best solution? I am genuinely asking how you think that the issue should be addressed, if it needs to be addressed, in your opinion.

Rules created by other socialists. I figured you would get excited over more pointless regulations, Chris P.

What is the best solution? I am genuinely asking how you think that the issue should be addressed, if it needs to be addressed, in your opinion.

I no longer address rules, regulations, laws, nor HOS questions. As often as you post your internet "facts" on here, would it be a wise use of my time? That's my genuine answer.