Answer
Idling occurs when the engine is running, but the vehicle is not changing position. Idling that occurs before a trip starts is included as part of the idling for the previous trip. Please review the examples below to help understand how idling time gets attributed to particular trips.
Example - Time Spent Idling Before and After Driving
In this example, let's assume time A and D are times spent idling. Therefore:
Previous trip idle time = A
Current trip = B + C + D
Current trip idle time = D
Example - Time Spent Idling in One Trip
In this example, let's assume time B and D are times spent idling. Therefore:
Current trip = A + B + C + D
Current trip idle time = B + D
Example - Time Spent Idling During Two Trips
In this example, A+B is the first trip, and C+D is the second trip. The idle times are B and D where B is attributed to the first trip, and D is attributed to the second trip.
Additional Notes
- Idling time is normally calculated in minutes unless it was edited by the user.
- Idling in the Trip History differs from the idling calculated in rules. Please see: Why does the Trip History Idling duration show something different from the Built-in Rule for Idling? for more information.
- If the vehicle is in accessory mode, the engine is off so it's not considered idling. It will be calculated as the vehicle being inactive. In most cases, accessory mode will not be used. At this time, this cannot be detected as an engine measurement. This is because the GO device is basically sleeping until ignition on or until ignition is simulated via movement etc. The GO device is not reporting or monitoring anything to use to identify this.
- Calculations for idling can depend on the vehicle and what we use as ignition. We normally use engine RPM which requires the engine to be on. But there are also vehicles that use roadspeed, speed or engine run time to detect ignition on.