^SmartWay Transport Partnership U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY Idle Reduction Profile USA TRUCK8 USA Truck Company Profile Headquarters Location Van Buren, Arkansas Contact: Chris Carter, Technical Development SmartWay Transport Partnership Representative (479)471-3873 qccarte@usa-truck.com Number of Employees: 3,300 Strategy Category: Idle reduction Number of Trailers: 5,972 Number of Power Units: 2,565 In 2005, USA Truck became a member of the SmartWay Transport Partnership. USA Truck's idle reduction strategy is multi-pronged, but cen- ters around three core goals: (1) training drivers about the financial and environmental benefits of saving fuel, (2) providing drivers with the necessary resources to reduce idle times, and (3) monitoring idle times and holding each driver accountable for his/her own idling. Strategies to reduce idle times include auxiliary power units, block heaters and automatic engine shutoff devices. USA Truck estimates that each truck using these three strategies will save 1500 gal- lons of fuel per year. At today's fuel prices, this amounts to a per-truck savings of over $4,000! USA Truck began by testing an over-the-road tractor equipped with an APU in 2004. This tractor traveled 230,000 miles and saved 2160 gallons of fuel due to APU use, accounting for a 6 percent increase in fuel efficiency. USA Truck has been able to eliminate one oil drain per year on its trucks with APUs because of reduced idling. It also found that the yearly maintenance costs for an APU are roughly equal to the cost of this single oil drain. USA Truck estimates a return on investment for its APUs of 1.5 to 2 years. By the end of 2006, USA Truck had 25 APUs in its fleet; these APUs combined to save over 27,000 gallons of fuel! In the coming years, USA Truck plans to adopt new strategies to save even more fuel. These strategies include fuel efficient tires, using more low-friction engine lubricants and improved aerodynamics. Chris Carter, manager of Technical Development and Fuel Economy, said: "At USA Truck, our goal is to meet or exceed our customer's expectations in all that we do, which includes being as efficient as possible in our operations. We aim to reduce fuel con- sumption, which in turn reduces our environmental footprint, by adopting fuel efficient strategies and utilizing fuel saving technologies. Becoming a partner with SmartWay was a natural fit in our objective to improving efficiency." http://www.epa.gov/smartway EPA420-F-07-OI3 ------- |