Building upon its previous commitments to compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling, UPS has announced plans to build an additional five CNG fueling stations and add more than 700 new CNG vehicles, including 400 semi-tractors and 330 terminal trucks.
This $130 million investment in CNG capacity for 2018 builds on prior UPS investments of $100 million in 2016 and $90 million in 2017. In total, from 2008 through 2018, UPS says it will have invested more than $1 billion in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles and fueling stations.
The five new CNG stations will be in Goodyear, Ariz.; Plainfield, Ind.; Edgerton, Kan.; Fort Worth, Texas; and Arlington, Texas. In total, 400 semi-tractors will be supplied by Freightliner and Kenworth, and 330 terminal trucks will be supplied by TICO.
“We strongly believe further investment in our natural gas fleet is a key element to help us achieve our long-term goals for reducing our CO2 emissions,” states Carlton Rose, president of global fleet maintenance and engineering for UPS. “We demonstrated the effectiveness of natural gas vehicles and fuel in 2017 by using 77 million total gallon equivalents in our ground fleet. UPS is a catalyst for wide-scale adoption of natural gas vehicles.”
Building CNG and liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity is an important enabler for increasing UPS’ use of renewable natural gas (RNG), the company says. According to UPS, RNG yields up to a 90% reduction in lifecycle greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions when compared to conventional diesel. Last year, UPS used 15 million gallon equivalents of RNG. The company claims it is the largest consumer of RNG in the transportation sector.
UPS currently operates more than 50 natural gas fueling stations strategically located across the U.S. Globally, UPS operates stations in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Tamworth, the U.K.
The company has a 2020 goal of one in four new vehicles purchased being an alternative fuel or advanced technology vehicle. UPS has also set a goal of replacing 40% of all ground fuel with sources other than conventional gasoline and diesel. These goals support UPS’ commitment to reduce its GHG emissions from global ground operations 12% by 2025.
Using its “rolling laboratory” approach, UPS deploys approximately 9,100 low-emission vehicles to determine which technology works best in each route configuration. This includes all-electric, hybrid electric, hydraulic hybrid, ethanol, CNG, LNG and propane.
