The new deployment is part of 200 new hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) deployed recently to eight US cities. The 200 new trucks will operate in Austin, Houston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, DC, Long Island, Minneapolis and Louisville, UPS said.
The company claimed that the 200 new HEV package cars 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, in addition to the reduction of 1,786 metric tons of CO2 gases released annually.
Freightliner Custom Chassis has provided the chassis, while Eaton has supplied the hybrid power system for the HEV trucks, which use lithium ion batteries, offering a faster re-charging capability and last longer than previous generation HEV batteries.
Bob Stoffel, senior vice president of supply chain strategy, engineering and sustainability at UPS, said: “This technology, where properly used, can yield a 35 percent fuel savings, the equivalent of 100 conventional UPS delivery vehicles.
“The wide variety of technologies in our green fleet is indicative of UPS’s ‘rolling laboratory’ philosophy to energy efficiency and reduced fuel consumption. Our goal is to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but there is no silver bullet technology to achieve this. This dependence will rely on a multi-modal approach.”
The company said that its 50 hybrid electric vehicles operate currently in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix.
