Other renewables

UPS buys 100 all-electric vehicles

Vehicles will be acquired from Electric Vehicles International (EVI). UPS has purchased 100 all-electric delivery vehicles for deployment in California, bolstering its continuing effort to reduce the emissions of its truck fleet and improve its energy security. The 100 vehicles will be acquired from Electric Vehicles International (EVI) of Stockton, Calif., and will replace older generation diesel trucks in the largest single deployment of zero tailpipe emission delivery vehicles in the State. These electric vehicles will have a 90-mile range and displace an estimated 126,000 gallons of fuel a year that would have been burned running diesel trucks.

UPS’s research and development of alternative technologies has determined it is time to explore electric drive systems within the short-range segment of its delivery fleet. This purchase is an important first step in supporting investment and advancement in electric vehicle technology. EVI’s vehicle met UPS’s requirements in the test phase. Now it will operate these vehicles in the real world and help establish the future viability of this technology.

UPS currently has 28 all-electric vehicles in its fleet operating in New York City and in Europe.

UPS operates one of the largest private fleets of alternative fuel vehicles in its industry with more than 2,200 in total. Besides all-electric technology, UPS has deployed Compressed Natural Gas, propane, Liquified Natural Gas and hybrid- electric vehicles in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Brazil, Korea, the UK and Hong Kong. It also has tested hybrid hydraulic and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

www.evi-usa.com/