UPS has announced its plans to add 200 new hybrid-electric delivery trucks to the company’s growing alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet.
According to the delivery company, the vehicles have the same two-cylinder engine and E-GENTM chassis as the 125 vehicles UPS announced earlier this year.
Equipped with lithium-ion batteries and a range extender engine, these trucks will deliver significant fuel economy equivalency gains – approximately four times the fuel economy of a gasoline-powered vehicle. In addition, a cloud-based, real time telematics performance monitoring system provides feedback for energy monitoring and route efficiency.
The trucks, manufactured by Workhorse Group Inc., will be deployed beginning in January 2017 in Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida and possibly in other states, as well.
“The improvements in these new package cars came from real-world experience in our alternative fuel Rolling Laboratory, which, earlier this year, hit a 1 billion miles driven milestone,” said Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability. “We are committed to developing alternative fuel vehicles that lessen our impact on the environment and reliance on petroleum-based fuels – that effort is helping to transform markets and communities.”
In addition to hybrid-electric vehicles, the company’s fleet includes all-electric, hydraulic hybrid, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane and light-weight fuel-saving composite body vehicles. UPS also uses millions of gallons of lower carbon footprint renewable diesel and renewable natural gas in its fleet each year.
As previously reported, UPS achieved its goal of driving 1 billion miles in its alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet back in August – one year earlier than initially planned. This “Rolling Laboratory” of more than 7,200 alt-fuel vehicles was dispatched to transform commercial transportation and spur growth in the clean fuels market, according to the delivery company.
By the end of 2016, UPS will have invested more than $750 million in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles and fueling stations worldwide since 2009.
