Fleet Tools

Idle Reduction Savings Calculator

An engine that is running but going nowhere still burns fuel. See what idling costs your fleet in dollars, gallons, and emissions, and what even a modest cut keeps in your budget. Built on national-lab measurements, including police cruisers with their full electronics load.

Vehicle type

Fuel

How many vehicles like this We use 1 if blank

Idle hours per vehicle per day Time the engine runs while parked. Telematics reports show this; 1 to 3 hours a shift is common

Days per year they runOptional We use 250, a typical work year, if blank

Fuel price per gallonOptional If blank we use the national average for this vehicle's fuel, shown below

Pick a vehicle type to see where its numbers come from.

How this is calculated

Idle fuel burn rates come from national-laboratory measurements published by Argonne National Laboratory, including its police cruiser study: a cruiser burns about 0.59 gallons an hour just idling with its lights, radio, and computer running. Gallons are burn rate times idle hours times days times vehicles. Dollars use the EIA national average fuel price for the vehicle's fuel unless you enter your own. CO2 uses the standard EPA factors per gallon of gasoline or diesel.

These are planning estimates to support idle-policy conversations. Your own telematics data is the best source for actual idle hours; the fuel price shown carries its as-of date and can be replaced with what you actually pay.

Have an idea to make this calculator better? Email us. We read every one.

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Modern Public Fleet · Fleet Tools · Planning estimates for public-sector fleet operations