Pros and Cons of Automatic Engine Start/Stop Solutions

Jeff Lynch
February 13, 2021
6 minutes read

The idea of ‘Idle Reduction’ is broad, complicated, and includes many technologies and solutions, including automatic start/stop engine solutions, that might work well together or conflict with each other. Each solution promises some type of benefit, but there is never a silver bullet that can be a perfect idle reduction solution.

The North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) put together an excellent review and report of all the idle reduction solutions on the market today, listing the advantages and disadvantages of each solution from a neutral position and looking at just the facts and research. If you aren’t familiar with NACFE, it is a great organization that provides in-depth and quality research to help fleets run more efficiently.

Automatic start/stop technology is becoming increasingly popular in various industries as it offers significant fuel savings and reduces emissions during idling.

The following is a copy of the NACFE’s report on automatic start/stop solutions. You can read the full NACFE Confidence Report by clicking here.

Overview of Automatic Engine Start/Stop Solutions

Functionality

Once the engine is running, the vehicle’s HVAC systems will warm or cool the sleeper just as they would when the truck is driving down the road. Essentially, the vehicle is still idling, keeping the engine warm and the batteries charged, but it is able to do so much more intelligently/efficiently, and automatically.

These systems can be used in very cold climates, for instance while a truck is in storage for a weekend or other down time, and offer very beneficial results, ensuring the vehicle will start when it is time to go back into freight-hauling operation. Automatic engine start/stop systems perform the work of both a block heater and battery charger without the need for the truck to be connected to outside power.

Types of Automatic Engine Start/Stop Systems

There are two different types of automatic engine start/stop systems, the most common being one that has a goal of maintaining a cab’s interior temperature when the vehicle is occupied. These may also assist with keeping the engine warm and the batteries charged.

The newer and less common type of automatic engine start/stop system focuses solely on maintaining the batteries’ state of charge. Given the growth in use of battery HVACs, combined with the new HOS restarts that last far longer than the 8 to 12 hours a battery HVAC can operate on one charge, this type of automatic engine start/stop system will probably grow in popularity, as they serve to recharge the battery HVAC system as it has drawn itself down. These will therefore enable battery HVACs to idle for longer than a single 8-10 hour window, allowing a driver to enjoy air conditioning continuously during an HOS restart. This type of automatic engine start/stop system is programmed to recognize the specific type of batteries being used by the battery HVAC system, and monitor their voltage, current draw, and temperature to provide optimal recharging patterns by comparing the inputs they receive to electronically stored battery-life models. It will typically require about 45 minutes of engine operation (which the automatic engine start/stop system will control) to fully recharge a battery HVAC system for an additional 8-10 hours of operation.

Advantages of Automatic Engine Start/Stop Systems

The most obvious benefit of all automatic start/stop systems is that they add few components and little weight to the vehicle. Since they are controlling the main engine, they do not require additional HVAC components, batteries, or engines to accomplish their tasks.

If a vehicle is purchased with a California Air Resources Board (ARB) “Clean Idle” engine, it will have a serial-numbered holographic sticker on the driver’s side of the hood or driver’s door. Such stickers allow automatic engine start/stop systems to be used without violating any idling regulations, provided that the vehicle wasn’t also purchased with the tamperproof five-minute timer, which does not allow any idling at all beyond that time limit.

Clean idle engines offer an integrated and clean solution that utilizes a few extra sensors to provide all of the desired HVAC and hotel load benefits while the vehicle is not moving. It may also be the solution most preferred by fleet maintenance teams, given its simplicity/commonality of diagnostics, service and parts.

Disadvantages of Automatic Engine Start/Stop Systems

The initial automatic engine start/stop systems that came out about two decades ago were not well-liked by truck drivers. Whenever those systems started and stopped the main engine, the noise and vibration could wake a sleeping driver. Some improvements have minimized this problem on newer systems, such as using the engine brake to create a more rapid and smooth engine shut-off than the cab rocking and engine sputtering that occurs during a normal shutoff.

Another drawback of these systems is that they do require idling the main engine, creating additional hours of wear on the main engine and loading of the DPF exhaust system.

Finally, it is not completely clear how various idle laws relate to some of the operational modes available with these systems. If the automatic engine start/stop system is charging the batteries or allowing a regeneration of the DPF system, it should be permissible to allow engine operation longer than the typical five minute maximum, similar to the rules which govern aspects of the electronic engine idle parameters technology class, and are detailed in that section.

Recommendations and Best Practices

If your fleet is dissatisfied with the length of operation of your battery HVAC system, a battery monitoring and charging system, such as that offered by automatic engine start/stop systems, could be a desirable investment to extend operation.

For fleets that are challenged from a support aspect to keep diesel APUs systems in operation, the combination of a Clean Idle engine and an automated engine start/stop system could reduce that challenge.

Again, the information in this post is from NACFE’s report on automatic engine start/stop solutions. You can read the full NACFE Confidence Report by clicking here. Feel free to visit our website or contact us directly at 913-744-4353 to see if Idle Smart can help you.

Interested in reducing the idle time of your fleet? Let’s talk to see if we’re a good fit for your fleet.

The Fall Dilemma

The morning air is crisp and cool, but by the afternoon, you’re sweating. This is a common experience during the fall and spring, but for a fleet, these drastic temperature swings are a silent threat. While your fleet might be prepared for the peak of summer or the depths of winter, the unpredictable shifts in between can create unique challenges that lead to unexpected downtime, maintenance issues, and driver discomfort.

Ignoring these temperature swings means leaving your assets and drivers vulnerable. The good news is, there’s a better way to manage seasonal temperature volatility. A solution that handles these changes automatically, protecting your fleet’s equipment and the people who drive it.

The Strain of a Shifting Climate

Temperature swings don’t just feel uncomfortable; they put stress on a truck’s critical systems and its driver.

Engine & Fuel: The rapid change from warm to cold weather can lead to fuel gelling, compromise fuel filters, and cause engine stalls or no-starts that leave your drivers stranded. Beyond that, the stress of frequent thermal shifts can accelerate engine wear, leading to unplanned service needs and a shorter component lifespan.
Batteries: Temperature swings are a primary cause of battery failure. While heat can degrade a battery’s internal components, cold weather robs it of its power output. This dual challenge increases the risk of a no-start situation, which is a major contributor to roadside delays and towing expenses.
Driver & Comfort: When a driver’s sleep is disrupted by uncomfortable cabin temperatures, it can affect their fatigue levels, job satisfaction, and overall morale. For fleet executives, this is a critical operational risk that can affect safety records, on-time performance, and, most importantly, driver retention in a highly competitive market.

The Old Way vs. The Smart Way

Traditional methods like idling all night or using simple bunk heaters only address some of these issues, often leading to wasted fuel and increased maintenance costs. Idle Smart offers a comprehensive solution for managing the effects of temperature swings.

Protect your engine and batteries: The system monitors both coolant and battery voltage, automatically starting the engine when needed to prevent cold-start failures, fuel gelling, and no-start situations. It keeps your trucks ready to roll without relying on manual intervention.
Maintain driver comfort automatically: Idle Smart maintains a comfortable, pre-set temperature range in the sleeper cab. This ensures drivers get uninterrupted rest without having to manually adjust settings or idle unnecessarily.
Reduce wear and tear: By running the engine only when necessary, the system minimizes the strain on your engine and reduces the wear and tear associated with excessive idling. This can extend the life of your equipment and lower long-term maintenance costs.

How to Prepare Your Fleet for What’s Next

Taking control of your fleet’s idle management with Idle Smart is a proactive move that pays off in every season. Here’s how you can prepare for temperature swings and all the other unpredictable challenges the road throws at you.

Get the Data.

You can’t fix what you don’t measure, and most systems don’t give you an accurate picture of your fleet’s idle activity. Idle Smart’s platform, the SmartPortal, provides insights into idle time, battery health, and engine starts, giving you a complete picture of where your fleet is vulnerable. With this data, you can see exactly where costs are coming from and make informed decisions.

Idle Smart System: Managing Temperature Swings

Automate your protection.

Systems that require driver intervention add to their workload and stress, and increase the likelihood of human error or missed steps. Idle Smart’s automated system manages idling, battery voltage, and climate control, reducing the risk of human error and ensuring consistent performance across your fleet. Handling these tasks automatically keeps your drivers on the road and helps improve idling more consistently across your fleet.

Align your team with a clear strategy.

Onboarding and adoption are key to successfully implementing new technology. Idle Smart invests in your success from day one with dedicated Customer Success Managers who provide virtual installation assistance, ROI-focused onboarding, and extensive support for everyone in your fleet, from drivers to executives. Plus, get “Train the Trainer” sessions to educate technicians about the system, so they understand how it works and can teach drivers to use it to improve their comfort and safety.

A Proactive Approach for Any Season

The unpredictable nature of temperature swings doesn’t have to be a threat to your fleet. By adding critical tools to your tech stack and shifting to proactive maintenance, you can protect your assets, cut costs, and improve driver satisfaction. Idle Smart helps you reduce downtime, lower maintenance costs, and boost fuel efficiency, giving you a smarter way to manage your fleet in any season.

Schedule a no-risk consultation to see how Idle Smart can help you weather the seasonal changes headed your way.

NTAW 2025: 5 Ways Modern Tech Has Transformed Technicians’ Roles

During NTAW 2025, we're celebrating the professionals who keep fleets...

National Technician Appreciation Week (NTAW) 2025 is our chance to celebrate the maintenance heroes of the trucking industry—the professionals who keep our nation’s commerce moving. Their work, from diagnosing complex engine issues to performing routine maintenance, is more demanding and technical than ever. Honored by the American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC), NTAW recognizes that technicians are the vital force behind every successful fleet. This blog post looks at five ways modern technology is evolving to support their expertise, making their job easier, more efficient, and less stressful.

1. AI-Powered Predictive Diagnostics

Diagnosing a problem on a modern Class 8 truck can feel like sifting through a mountain of digital information. The Engine Control Module (ECM) generates countless fault codes, many of which are non-critical, making it a challenge to find the real issue. Many modern technologies are helping technicians by getting ahead of mechanical problems before they cause breakdowns.

Platforms from companies like Uptake and Geotab use machine learning to analyze telematics and sensor data from thousands of vehicles. Instead of just giving a raw fault code, these systems can identify patterns that suggest a specific part or system is likely to fail. Taking it a step further, predictive maintenance tools like SmartInsights provide prioritized Insights with actionable recommendations, cutting down on diagnostic time and allowing technicians to focus their skills on actual repairs, not the investigation.

Modern fleet tech is focused on not just making repairs efficiently, but preventing unexpected repairs in the first place.

2. Digital Workflows and Integrated Platforms

Gone are the days of lost paperwork and handwritten notes. Digital fleet management software is now the standard for streamlining maintenance workflows. Companies like Fleetio and Trimble offer platforms that centralize everything from digital vehicle inspection reports to work orders and parts inventory. A driver can submit an inspection report with a few taps on a mobile app, often with photos, and that information instantly creates a work order for the technician. This ensures the technician has a clear, organized view of the problem before the truck ever pulls into the bay.

Idle Smart’s SmartPortal similarly gathers your entire fleet’s idle data in one convenient platform, regardless of OEM. Across all types of technology, advancements have enabled seamless communication and data reporting, reducing diagnostic time and keeping your trucks on the road.

3. Enhanced Visualization with AR/VR

As trucks become more complex, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) are emerging as powerful tools for technicians. AR can overlay digital instructions, diagrams, or 3D models directly onto the physical engine or chassis when a technician is wearing a headset or holding a tablet. This provides a kind of “x-ray vision” to visualize schematics or internal components, which can dramatically speed up the diagnostic process. This technology also enables remote assistance, allowing a senior technician to guide a less experienced team member through a repair from a different location, a valuable resource given the technician shortage. While AR and VR are still slowly being adopted, it could be a game-changer for training and retention.

4. Remote Adjustments

A major pain point for fleets with trucks from multiple different OEMs is inconsistency in settings and the need for seasonal adjustments, which must be made in the shop.

Systems like Idle Smart help fleets minimize the friction of having a mixed-asset fleet by standardizing parameters and settings regardless of OEM, and making parameter adjustments remotely accessible. That means, instead of bringing in one truck at a time for a shop visit to tweak parameters, a technician or fleet manager can adjust your entire fleet’s parameters instantly, right from their desk. Some advanced features even change settings based on each truck’s location and weather conditions, minimizing the need for adjustments altogether.

Remote adjustments are a huge win, especially for large fleets with hundreds or thousands of trucks, as they keep trucks on the road, reduce unnecessary shop visits, and ensure that the entire fleet operates with the same set of rules, regardless of the make or model.

5. Automation and Maintenance-Free Solutions

The most effective technology for a technician is a system designed to reduce the maintenance burden and help them use their time more efficiently. Older technology, like traditional APUs, requires regular maintenance, adding more tasks to a technician’s already busy schedule.

That’s why many fleets are considering maintenance-free technologies. An APU alternative like Idle Smart, for example, automates idle management to prevent no-starts and minimize engine wear without requiring maintenance of its own. When combined with a smarter approach to automation, these systems can lessen the overall workload and help technicians do their jobs more efficiently. Automation isn’t just for assembly lines; with the right technology, it creates systems that work for technicians, not against them, allowing them to focus their expertise on the most critical repairs.

A Smarter Future, Built on Trust

During NTAW 2025, we celebrate the evolution of the technician’s trade. The professionals who keep our industry moving are now more critical than ever, and modern technology is giving them the tools they need to excel. Equipping your team with technology designed to make their work easier and more efficient isn’t just an investment in efficiency; it’s a way of saying, “Thank you for all you do, and we’re giving you the tech to prove it.”

Idle Smart is a system built with this philosophy in mind. By offering a maintenance-free solution designed to eliminate unplanned breakdowns and enhance efficiency, we help technicians shine. It’s technology that’s ready to support the men and women who keep our industry moving.

To learn more about how Idle Smart helps your technicians, talk to our team today.

Celebrating NTDAW 2025: 9 Things We Learned from Reddit’s r/truckers

Celebrate NTDAW 2025 with an unfiltered look at what it's...

NTAW 2025

This week, from September 14th to the 20th, we celebrate National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (NTDAW 2025), a time to honor the nearly 3.6 million professional truck drivers who are the driving force of our economy. These are the individuals who, collectively, log approximately 330 billion miles each year, delivering 11 billion tons of freight and serving as the sole source of goods for over 80% of our communities. They are the backbone of our economy, working tirelessly to ensure everything from the food on our tables to the materials for our homes gets where it needs to go, safely and on time.

While national organizations and fleets across the country host events to show their appreciation, we wanted to get a more personal and unfiltered look into the lives of these professionals. So, we dove into a place where drivers go to connect, share their experiences, and find a sense of community: Reddit’s r/truckers forum. This corner of the internet is a vibrant hub of genuine, often funny, and sometimes truly unbelievable stories. It’s where the real talk happens, and it’s a goldmine of insights into the daily realities of life on the road.

We’ve pulled together nine key things we learned from this community, offering a peek behind the curtain of the trucking industry and a unique way to celebrate the commitment and resilience of its drivers.

Here’s what we learned from the most honest community on the road.

A Shoulder to Lean On.

The r/truckers community is a place where drivers go to vent about the realities of their job. It’s a sounding board where shared grievances create a sense of solidarity and community. When drivers post about a problem, others often respond with similar stories and a shared understanding of the grind. This honest exchange creates a space where drivers can find a sense of camaraderie and shared experience, reminding them they’re never truly alone on the long haul.

If you’ve had a bad day or a frustrating load, chances are someone else has dealt with the same thing, and yes, they definitely want to talk about it.

Dash Cams Are Evidence To The Craziest Stories.

While many drivers have a complicated relationship with dash cams, they are an essential tool for capturing the chaotic and dangerous behavior of other vehicles on the road. Some of the most unbelievable stories are backed up by dash cam footage; from bizarre accidents to epic near-misses, these clips and photos prove that life on the road is never dull.

Insider Tips and Tricks.

Members are always sharing tips, tricks of the trade, and updates about closures and incidents. Whether you’re a new driver or a seasoned veteran, you’re bound to learn something new here. From clever hacks for saving time to advice on navigating tricky routes, drivers are eager to share their knowledge and help each other.

The Hunt for Parking is a Sport.

If there’s one topic that gets everyone talking, it’s parking. The posts range from triumphant drivers with perfect parking to photos of truly mind-boggling parking jobs. Drivers post pictures of parking lot “fails,” publicly shaming those who block multiple spots or park recklessly. From masterful maneuvers to epic fails, the parking posts here are sure to make your jaw drop.

The Art of Truck Stop Food.

Life on the road means getting creative with meals. This forum showcases a fascinating range of food, from diabolical combinations to true delicacies; drivers have the art of truckstop food figured out. These posts celebrate the resourcefulness of drivers and give a glimpse into the unique culinary world of the highway.

Truck Stops: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

This community provides an unfiltered look at truck stops across North America. You’ll see facilities so clean they sparkle, while others expose restrooms so dirty, they deserve a spot in the Truck Stop Hall of Shame.

With photo evidence, drivers document the best and worst of what they encounter, offering advice to fellow drivers on where to stop and where to avoid.

Career Advice, Straight Up.

The subreddit is also a place for serious career chat. New drivers ask for advice, veterans share their wisdom, and everyone chimes in with tips on everything from finding the right company to handling difficult loads. Whether you’re considering getting your CDL or you’ve been driving for decades, this is the place for honest, no-nonsense advice about the industry, from people who live it every day.

Cool, Weird, and Messed-Up Trucks.

This community has an eye for the truly unique. You’ll see it all here: the latest rigs right off the line, beautifully customized trucks, unforgettable breakdowns, and even photos of old, beat-up rides that have seen better days. It’s a tribute to every kind of vehicle that keeps America moving. It’s a virtual show for the long-haul crowd.

The Best Place for a Laugh.

Beyond the serious discussions, this subreddit delivers a healthy dose of humor. Drivers have a knack for finding the funny in everything, from ridiculous road signs to viral memes that perfectly capture the daily struggles of life on the road. It’s the perfect place to scroll when you need a break and a reminder that you’re never truly driving alone.

This National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, we’re giving a huge shout-out to the professionals who power our country. At Idle Smart, we listen to drivers; we understand that their job is demanding. That’s why we build technology with drivers in mind. Our solutions are designed to support drivers by ensuring they get uninterrupted rest and that their trucks are always ready to roll without the added worry of dead batteries or unnecessary engine noise. It’s our way of helping fleets show their appreciation, one smart solution at a time.

For more insights on how we help fleets with idle reduction and other challenges, check out our Idle Insider blog.

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