Betting on electric
UPS recently ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles, the largest commercial order of such trucks by any company, in addition to another 300 compressed natural gas vehicles for its US delivery fleet.

The purchase of the 500 additional vehicles means the UPS alternative fuel fleet, which is already the largest such private fleet in the US, will grow by 30% from 1,718 to a total of 2,218 low carbon vehicles.

“Alternative fuel research and development is just one of the ways that UPS is mitigating climate change risks,” says Bob Stoffel, UPS’s Corporate Sustainability Officer. “We also are focused on aggressive conservation programmes and improving network efficiency to cut fuel use.”

UPS’s so-called green fleet actually operates in the US, in Germany, France, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the UK, and in total has travelled nearly 144m miles since 2000. The fleet includes electric, hybrid electric, CNG, liquefied natural gas and propane-powered vehicles. UPS is also continuing to work with the Environmental Protection Agency on a hydraulic hybrid delivery vehicle.