A family owned company located in Newbury, Ohio, Kuhnle Brothers Inc. has been hauling bulk loads since 1966. With 38 vehicles in their fleet including pneumatic, dry vacuum, coded stainless, rubber lined, composite, and food grade trailers, Kuhnle Brothers Inc. services 48 states and Canada. By partnering with Clean Fuels Ohio, Kuhnle Brothers Inc. was awarded funding through the US EPA’s Midwest Clean Diesel Initiative to retrofit its existing fleet with auxiliary power units (APUs). APUs can nearly eliminate idling on long haul trips during periods when drivers are required to rest but still need climate control and cabin power.
The following case study includes diesel cleanup scenarios applied to Kuhnle Brothers Inc.’s real-world fleet. The data used to arrive at emissions and fuel reduction figures are based on the real-world usage patterns of Kuhnle Brothers Inc. vehicles. The Kuhnle Brothers’ fleet includes 38 class 8b heavy-duty trucks. Additional information in the table demonstrates how deploying this cleanup strategy will score in the Ohio Green Fleets program.
As you can see from the table, the addition of APUs to Kuhnle Brothers’ fleet vehicles enables significant reductions in vehicle idling. These units allowed Kuhnle Brothers to cut vehicle idling times by nearly 75%, reducing the number of average annual idling hours from 998 to 250 per vehicle. Though idling represents only a small subset of overall fleet operations, the elimination of idling represents huge emissions reductions.
When an APU is being used, the vehicle engine is shut down and no longer consuming fuel or producing harmful emissions. As demonstrated in the table on the previous page, the use of idle reduction technologies can have a surprising multiplier effect leading to significant reductions in fuel use and fleet emissions. Clean Fuels Ohio and the US EPA applaud Kuhnle Brothers Inc. for taking proactive steps to conserve fuel and reduce vehicle emissions through fleet-wide adoption of idle reduction technology.
Return on Investment
Assuming a reduction of 750 hours per year of idling on each vehicle, 1.16 gallons of fuel wasted per idling hour, and $3.50 per gallon diesel fuel, Kuhnle Brothers can expect to save over $1500 dollars per year for each auxiliary power unit installed. In such a scenario an APU pays for itself in approximately 2-3 years. With grant funding assistance through Clean Fuels Ohio and the US EPA, Kuhnle Brothers has achieved a return on investment in under a year.
