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Learn More About Idling

Idling doesn't take you very far… and getting nowhere is costing you a lot of money! Idling an engine for more than ten seconds uses more fuel than turning the engine off and restarting it. So all that time spent idling is costing us money that we didn't need to spend!

Canadian motorists idle for an average 5-10 minutes per day. That doesn't sound like much, but over a year, even if you are on the low end at 5 minutes per day, that equals out to more than 30 hours of idling every year. Engines burn about 2.5 to 4 litres of gasoline for every hour spent idling, so without really realizing it, we are spending $50-100 every year on gasoline… to get nowhere.

Reduced fuel budgets isn't the only way that going Idle Free can save us money. Contrary to the popular belief, idling is hard on motors! Incomplete combustion of fuel injected into the engine can result in the build-up of fuel residues on the walls of cylinders, in motor oil, and on spark-plugs. This build-up damages engines, and decreases fuel efficiency. Restarting your engine, however, has little effect in terms of component wear because batteries and starters are designed to go through tens of thousands of cycles in their lifetimes. Restarting does have a small impact (cost estimates are around $10 per year), however the costs of any potential component wear are more than made up for in fuel savings.

The Office of Energy Efficiency in Natural Resources Canada has come up with a calculator that can show you how much potential you have to save every year in your own vehicle. The City of Calgary estimates that if Calgarians reduced their idling time by three minutes per day, we could save more than ten million dollars!

Businesses also have the potential to save a lot of money by adopting an Idle Free policy. Fleets that do not manage fuel consumption typically have an incidence of idling around 35% of operating time (note: if this number seems high, it is probably because many transportation workers must sleep in their cabs, and if they do not have separate temperature control mechanisms, must leave the engine running). Companies with Idle Free policies typically have an incidence of less than 5%. Molson Canada, through their anti-idling program, stays below 4%, and saves $250,000 annually.