Electric Co-op Today

Having 55,000 vehicles on America’s roads each day means quite a fuel bill, which is a big reason why UPS is looking at other options.

UPS had about 15 electric vehicles deployed in New York City in the mid-1930s, including this one from 1935 on display at the EDTA conference. (Photo By: Michael W. Kahn)

“We have nearly 2,000 alternative fuel vehicles in our fleet,” said Mike Hance, vice president, automotive engineering and operations, at the delivery giant.

“Within that fleet we’ve got nearly 300 hybrid electric or plug-in electric vehicles that we are testing, helping to develop, working with manufacturers on.”

Speaking at this month’s 2011 Electric Drive Transportation Association Conference in Washington, D.C., Hance said UPS vehicles travel an average of 84 miles a day.

Since it operates in diverse areas—from Manhattan, where vehicles travel about six miles per day, to areas in Arizona where vehicles might drive 300 miles a day—UPS has flexibility in picking alternatives, including liquid natural gas, propane and hydraulic hybrids.

Still, Hance called electrification “the backbone” of UPS’s efforts to achieve a 20 percent improvement in the miles per gallon its fleet gets by 2020. Because most vehicles are parked at night for about 12 hours, they can be recharged slowly during off-peak times.

The hybrids are popular both with drivers and customers. “I get calls from customers asking that we place a hybrid or plug-in electric vehicle on their route,” Hance said.

Those businesses like having an environmentally friendly vehicle make pickups and deliveries, he said, because it adds to their own green initiatives.

The technology also impressed Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who told the conference, “To see a big brown UPS truck that is a hybrid vehicle, it’s quite extraordinary. I never thought that we’d see that day.”

Tags: Electric Vehicles