Package delivery giant United Parcel Service (UPS) is wrapping up field tests of a hybrid electric delivery vehicle that is being used to pick up and deliver packages at 158 locations on a 31-mile route in Huntsville AL. The results will determine whether Atlanta-based UPS adds more hybrids to its ground delivery fleet.
"Our goal with this project is to significantly reduce exhaust emissions and increase fuel economy, improve mechanical and operational reliability and provide clean, efficient auxiliary power," said Mike Eskew, UPS’s chairman-elect, in a speech to the Clean Air Technologies 2001 International Conference.
UPS has a total alternative fuel fleet of more than 1,800 vehicles, which includes all-electric vans, liquefied natural gas (LNG) tractors, compressed natural gas (CNG) and propane powered delivery vehicles. UPS’s hybrid electric vehicle was built by Huntsville–based PEI Electronics, which manufactures electronic systems for the U.S. Dept. of Defense.