On Tuesday UPS announced it has ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles -- what it said is the largest commercial order ever -- as well as 300 compressed natural gas vehicles for its United States delivery fleet. The purchase expands the UPS alternative fuel fleet by 30 percent from 1,718 to 2,218 vehicles, the largest private fleet in the U.S. The express carrier also operates low-carbon vehicles in Germany, France, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom, including electric, hybrid electric, CNG, liquefied natural gas and propane-powered vehicles. The company said it also is continuing work with the Environmental Protection Agency on a hydraulic hybrid delivery vehicle.
The 200 hybrid electric vehicles will be deployed in 2009 and join 50 HEV delivery trucks already in operation. The new trucks are expected to save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,786 metric tons per year, or the equivalent of almost 100 conventional trucks. The hybrid trucks have a battery pack, motor/generator and power control system that allow electric power to be fed into the powertrain when conditions demand it. The HEVs also utilize regenerative braking, where energy produced in stopping the moving vehicle is captured and returned to the battery system as electrical energy. The new CNG vehicles will be deployed later this year and join more than 800 such vehicles already in use in the United States, and yield a 20-percent reduction in emissions over the cleanest diesel engines.
Journal of Commerce
