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Written by Kacey Green
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Tuesday, 28 February 2006 |
 Consumer Affairs Reports : 2/24
United Parcel Service is buying 50 hybrid electric delivery vehicles along with 4,100 low-emission vehicles this year as part of an effort to cut fuel costs.
UPS says each of the 50 hybrid electric vehicles will look the same as traditional UPS trucks but will save roughly 44,000 gallons of fuel a year. The trucks will feature lithium ion batteries that are capable of faster re-charging and have a longer life than batteries used in previous generations of hybrids.
The low-emission UPS trucks will be about 15 percent more fuel-efficient. UPS has a global fleet of around 91,000 vehicles.The UPS alternative fuel fleet - at 1,500 vehicles one of the largest in the United States - currently includes trucks powered by compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, electricity and hydrogen. Research also is underway with the Environmental Protection Agency on a hydraulic hybrid drivetrain.
I'm glad to see that UPS is still continuing their push towards being more environmentally friendly. UPS has had a long relationship with electric vehicles but, their diversified approach is refreshing. Instead of picking a single technology they are trying many techniques and applying the most effective ones to their business. Its also interesting to see that just a few years later hydraulic hybrids are getting serious consideration. A hydraulic hybrid uses the same concept as the parallel hybrids such as the Prius, except instead of a high voltage electrical system it uses a high pressure nitrogen gas. I would also like to point out that hydraulic hybrid seems to be a bit of a misnomer because hydraulic is having to do with liquids and pneumatic is having to do with gasses, so we should call them pneumatic hybrids. The solutions to storing high pressure gasses on-board a vehicle may even help solve the same problem with today's hydrogen hybrids.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 08 March 2006 )
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