Shipping giant UPS has added to its fleet of alternative-fueled vehicles with 200 next-generation hybrid electric delivery trucks in eight U.S. cities.
This company press release says the HEVs will be used in Austin, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Long Island, Minneapolis and Louisville, and they will add to UPS’ fleet of about 20,000 low-emission and alternative-fuel vehicles already in use:
“We’re proud of this large HEV deployment to major cities in the United States,” said Bob Stoffel, UPS senior vice president of supply chain, strategy, engineering and sustainability. “This technology, where properly used, can yield a 35 percent fuel savings, the equivalent of 100 conventional UPS delivery vehicles.”
The 200 new HEV delivery trucks are expected to reduce fuel consumption by roughly 176,000 gallons over the course of a year compared to an equivalent number of traditional diesel trucks. The hybrids also should reduce by 1,786 metric tons the amount of CO2 gases released annually into the atmosphere.
The new hybrid power system utilizes a conventional diesel engine combined with a battery pack, saving fuel and reducing pollution-causing emissions. The small diesel is used to recharge the battery pack and to add power when necessary.
The HEVs also use regenerative braking. The energy generated from applying the brakes is captured and returned to the battery as electricity. The combination of clean diesel power and electric power, supplemented by regenerative braking, allows dramatic improvements in fuel savings and emissions reductions.
The trucks will look just like the brown delivery trucks we’re all used to seeing, except they will also have labels identifying them as hybrid electrics. Now, if they’ll just use biodiesel as their TRUE clean diesel source.