FedEx has converted 20% of its vehicle fleet to more efficient and lower-emission models and hasalready reached 80% of its vehicle fuel efficiency targets years ahead of schedule.
The company announced that the FedEx Express vehicle fleet is now 16.6 per cent more fuelefficient through FY2011 than it was in 2005. Twenty per cent of the FedEx Express diesel vehiclepickup and delivery fleet has already been converted to more efficient and cleaner emission modelsthat comply with 2010 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency diesel emission standards.
“Although we are less than halfway to the end date we set for ourselves, we have achieved 80per cent of our vehicle fuel efficiency goal as of the conclusion of fiscal year 2011, compared toour original baseline set in 2005,” said Mitch Jackson, staff vice president of environmentalaffairs and sustainability, FedEx Corp. “As a result, we are re-evaluating our 2020 goal topotentially raise the standard we originally set out to achieve.”
“Thanks to this team effort, we have converted 20 per cent of our pickup and delivery fleetto cleaner and more fuel efficient models,” said Dennis Beal, vice president of global vehicles,FedEx Express. “By pursuing the most promising avenues of advanced technologies, enlisting multipleexperienced manufacturers and optimizing our vehicle operations, FedEx is reducing fuel use andemissions faster than expected.”
The company said its significant progress is the result of a number of initiatives such asthe upcoming addition of 87 all-electric trucks to its green fleet bringing the all-electricvehicle count to 130. FedEx has accelerated its efforts in fuel conservation through the purchaseof vehicles with right-sized engines like the Sprinter vans manufactured by Mercedes-Benz. By theend of FY13, FedEx will have more than 11,000 such vehicles in service, more than 35 per cent ofits U.S. pick-up and delivery fleet. Each Sprinter-type van is about 70 to 100 per cent morefuel-efficient than the original truck it replaces.
It has added 114 Reach composite-body trucks manufactured from advanced materials byUtilimaster on an Isuzu Motors chassis with an appropriately-sized engine. The lower weight design,along with the engine, is expected to save up to 35 per cent in fuel over most conventional walk-invans. The company is also testing FedEx Ground hybrid hydraulic parcel delivery vehicles that canreduce fuel usage by 40 per cent as well as six standard delivery vehicles retrofitted withall-electric drivetrains from various suppliers, including AMP, Smith Electric and FreightlinerCustom Chassis Corporation.
The electric truck initiative is aimed not only at improving FedEx fleet efficiency, but alsoin accelerating the development of all-electric trucks that could compete favorably withtraditional vehicles for all users. “While we naturally want to improve performance and reducecosts for FedEx, we also want to see all-electric trucks become more affordable and reliable foreveryone from your local pizza parlor to other small businesses that deliver,” said Jackson. “Thisis a strategy for reducing reliance on petroleum-based fuels in a much faster, more inclusive andimpactful way.”
The new FedEx all-electric (EV) vehicles are being deployed in the next few months innumerous locations which include California (the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles, OrangeCounty, San Diego and the Central Valley); suburban Washington, D.C. (Rockville, M.D.); New YorkCity and several locations in Texas. In Chicago, FedEx is testing electric trucks from severalmanufacturers head-to-head in daily service to accelerate the development of the vehicles and theEV industry. Additional all-electric trucks are being prepared for deployment in Asia and Europe,where FedEx Express currently operates all-electric trucks in London and Paris.
Fleet users present an added advantage for all-electric technology, since electric trucks canoperate during the day and charge overnight when utilities have spare capacity. FedEx Express iscurrently working with General Electric and Columbia University on a project in New York City tooptimize charging facilities for all-electric trucks.
“Electric drivelines have a tremendous potential, and we are seeing the benefits ofintegrating them into our fleet, but the technology is still in the early phase of the developmentcycle,” added Beal. “That’s why we are aggressively working with several truck manufacturers tofast-forward their products’ performance curve and affordability.”
FedEx chairman and CEO Frederick W. Smith is co-chair of the organisation Securing America’sFuture Energy (SAFE). He has long been focused on the use of domestic fuel sources, includingelectricity, to power urban vehicles in the United States.
