Global parcel delivery service FedEx adds first all-electric trucks to its US fleet

29 March 2010

NYSE-listed global parcel delivery service FedEx has introduced the first all-electric FedEx parcel delivery trucks in the US to its alternative-energy vehicle fleet.

The company has slated four purpose-built electric trucks, optimised for electric operation from the wheels up, for the Los Angeles area in June 2010, joining more than 1,800 alternative energy-fuelled FedEx vehicles worldwide.

Rather than creating its own proprietary technology, FedEx is turning to the marketplace to spur solutions that can rapidly be scaled-up, purchasing its first US all-electric vehicles from two different suppliers to evaluate the robustness of this technology.

One pair of the new all-electric trucks, which are based on the Modec design already operational in the European arm of FedEx, are being purchased from an unnamed manufacturer for delivery in LA later this year and two are being assembled in Indiana that were purchased from Navistar. To date, ten Modec vehicles serve FedEx routes in London and an additional five are on order for Paris.

The design range allows FedEx Express couriers to make a full eight-hour shift of deliveries before recharging the vehicles, said the company. Beyond the nine new electric trucks to be deployed in Los Angeles and Paris, FedEx said it has purchased ten additional hybrid-electric vehicles that will be added to its California fleet throughout the spring, based in Oakland.

‘FedEx has a history of changing what’s possible, both in the innovative services we offer customers and in the way we offer those services,’ said John Formisano, vice president, Global Vehicles, FedEx Express. ‘In 2004 we were the first global company to invest in hybrid electric commercial trucks, and now we’re introducing the even cleaner all-electric parcel delivery truck. We’re making these investments, and invite others to join us, so that together we can speed the transition to a cleaner transportation system.’

FedEx, which expects to have an alternative energy fleet of 1,869 by June, unveiled a prototype all-electric truck from Navistar that will be operated for FedEx customers, employees and local officials in several stops along historic Route 66 between Chicago and LA, added the company.

‘Down the road, we see the possibility of charging electric vehicle fleets with low- or zero-emission electricity generated on site by such innovations as solar electric arrays, like those at FedEx locations in California, New Jersey and Germany, or the Bloom Energy Server, another new technology we’re helping to pioneer,’ said Mitch Jackson, FedEx’s vice president for environmental affairs and sustainability.

With annual revenues of $33bn, FedEx led the launch of the development of the first commercial-grade hybrid-electric delivery vehicles in conjunction with the Environmental Defense Fund, technology which has now been adopted by more than 100 of the company’s fleets.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tags: all electric vehicle, hybrid vehicle

This story was published on Monday, March 29th, 2010 at 6:11 pm and is filed under North America, companies, energy efficiency. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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