UPS has expanded its fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles to more than 2,000 with the deploymentof 25 next-generation hybrid electric delivery trucks in Houston, Texas.
At the UPS facility in Stafford, Texas, Governor Rick Perry was on hand to welcome the newvehicles to Houston. He was joined by state Sen. Tommy Williams and state Rep. Elect RonReynolds.
The 25 trucks deployed in Houston are part of 200 new HEVs deployed recently to eight US cities:Austin, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Long Island, Minneapolis andLouisville.
“We’re proud of this large HEV deployment to major cities in the United States,” said BobStoffel, UPS Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Strategy, Engineering, and Sustainability, “Thistechnology, where properly used, can yield a 35% fuel saving, the equivalent of 100 conventionalUPS delivery vehicles.”
The 200 new HEV package cars are expected to reduce fuel consumption by roughly 176,000 gallonsover the course of a year compared to an equivalent number of traditional diesel trucks. Thehybrids also should reduce by 1,786 metric tons the amount of CO2 gases released annually into theatmosphere.
The new hybrid power system utilises a conventional diesel engine combined with a battery pack,saving fuel and reducing pollution-causing emissions. The small diesel is used to recharge thebattery pack and to add power when necessary.
The HEV fleet features a chassis from Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation and a hybrid powersystem from Eaton Corporation. The external truck bodies are identical to UPS’s other signaturebrown trucks, although they feature additional labeling identifying them as hybrid electrics. Thetrucks use lithium ion batteries, which offer a faster re-charging capability and last longer thanprevious generation HEV batteries. Additionally, these vehicles are much quieter than conventionalUPS trucks.
In all, UPS’ green fleet now totals 2,081 vehicles using multiple technologies, includingcompressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, electricity, and hydraulic hybridtechnology.
“The wide variety of technologies in our green fleet is indicative of UPS’s ‘rolling laboratory’philosophy to energy efficiency and reduced fuel consumption,” Stoffel said. “Our goal is to reducedependence on fossil fuels, but there is no silver bullet technology to achieve this. Thisdependence will rely on a multi-modal approach.”
