UPS announced yesterday it was adding 306 alternative fuel vehicles to its “green fleet” by placingan order for 167 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) delivery trucks while taking delivery of 139 new
propane delivery trucks in North America. Additionally, the company has launched an initiative touse biodiesel fuel in its ground support vehicles at the UPS Worldport® air hub in Louisville.The CNG trucks will be deployed early next year in Dallas, Atlanta and four California cities– Los Angeles, Ontario, San Ramon and Fresno. They will join more than 800 such vehicles already inuse in the United States. The propane vehicles are joining nearly 600 propane trucks alreadyoperating in Canada and Mexico.
“While there’s a great deal of interest in the research we’re doing with new types ofhybrids, 70 years of testing alternative fuel vehicles has taught us there are multipletechnologies that can effectively reduce our dependence on fossil fuels as well as our carbonfootprint,” said Robert Hall, UPS’s director of vehicle engineering. “Adding this many propane andCNG vehicles is going to have a very positive impact.”
UPS’s global alternative-fuel fleet now stands at 1,629 vehicles – the largest such privatefleet in the transportation industry – and includes CNG, liquefied natural gas, propane andelectric and hybrid electric vehicles. The company also is working with the EnvironmentalProtection Agency on a hydraulic hybrid delivery vehicle.
The propane and CNG trucks currently in the UPS fleet were converted from gasoline and dieselvehicles in the 1980s to run on alternative fuels. The new trucks are originally manufactured foralternative fuel use.
The chassis for the CNG trucks are being purchased in two sizes from Freightliner CustomChassis Corporation. The trucks will feature engines from Cummins Westport that are expected toyield a 20 percent emissions reduction and 10 percent improvement in fuel economy over the cleanestdiesel engines available in the market today. The truck bodies will be identical externally to thesignature-brown trucks that now comprise the UPS fleet and will be marked as CNG vehicles.
The new propane-powered vehicles were manufactured by Workhorse Custom Chassis and featurethe latest technology in clean-burning propane engines provided by Baytech Corporation. Propanevehicles emit about one-third fewer reactive organic gases than gasoline-fueled vehicles. Nitrogenoxide and carbon monoxide emissions also are 20 percent and 60 percent less, respectively, thanconventional vehicles.
The UPS propane vehicles will run on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) provided at eight on-sitefueling stations at UPS facilities in Canada. LPG is derived from petroleum during oil or naturalgas processing and is cleaner-burning than regular gasoline.
The biodiesel initiative in Louisville is being launched with the support of a $515,000federal grant that is helping offset some of the cost of building a fuel infrastructure at theairport. The infrastructure will provide a 5 percent biodiesel blend of fuel to run 366 groundsupport vehicles starting early next year.
Biodiesel is a clean-burning diesel replacement fuel that can be used in compression-ignitionengines. It is manufactured from U.S.-produced oils such as soybean oil, recycled cooking oils oranimal fats. The use of biodiesel reduces particulate matter, carbon emissions and volatile organiccompounds.
UPS said it has invested more than $15 million in developing its alternative fuel fleet,while it has also purchased and is operating nearly 20,000 low-emission conventional vehicles.These vehicles have regular gas- and diesel-powered engines but employ the very latest technologyand manufacturing techniques to reduce emissions as much as possible.
“Deploying alternative fuel vehicles and exploring renewable energy sources like biodieselare just two of the many ways UPS actively pursues its commitment to sustainable businesspractices,” said Hall. “We have always believed that working green and working smart aresynonymous.”
