UPS Deploys 130 Hybrid Electric Trucks

UPS has announced the deployment of 130 hybrid electric vehicles for its fleet this year.

Almost 100 of the vehicles have been deployed in California, with the Los Angeles and San Jose markets receiving 20 HEVs each. The remainder of the trucks are operating in New Jersey, New York and Hong Kong. They join the 250 HEVs UPS already had operating around the U.S.

UPS estimates that the 130 new trucks could save it 30 percent in fuel costs, save 58,371 gallons of fuel annually and reduce CO2 emissions by 592 metric tons.

The HEV fleet features a Freightliner Custom Chassis and a hybrid power system from Eaton Corporation.  The external truck bodies are identical to UPS’s other signature brown trucks.

In August, UPS announced the purchase of 100 fully electric commercial delivery vehicles from Electric Vehicles International.

The class 6 walk-in delivery trucks with a 90-mile range will be placed into service early next year in California’s South Coast Air Basin, San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley.

The company says that it uses its alternative fuel vehicles as a “rolling laboratory” – using the fleet as a way to learn about how new technologies and advancements can be adapted for use in a large delivery network.

Clarification: UPS has pointed out that the hybrid trucks were purchased in late September 2010, and this announcement was to mark their launch, as all vehicles are now deployed.