Oct 28, 2008 11:07 am US/Eastern
UPS To Deploy 7 Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicles
ATLANTA (AP) ―
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UPS, also known as United Parcel Service, has about 90,000 delivery trucks. (File)
UPS
Shipping giant UPS Inc. is bullish on the prospects of fuel savings and environmental benefits from hydraulic hybrid technology, but whether it will ever decide to or be able to mass produce delivery trucks with the systems remains to be seen.
As they displayed a prototype on Monday during an event at Centennial Olympic Park, officials with the Atlanta-based company announced that they will deploy two new HHVs in Minneapolis during the first quarter of next year. It will then deploy another five of the vehicles later in 2009 and in early 2010.
The new system replaces a truck's transmission with hydraulics and that, combined with a low-emission diesel engine, yields a 45 percent to 50 percent improvement in fuel economy, according to UPS.
UPS, also known as United Parcel Service, has about 90,000 delivery trucks. The average traditional diesel truck costs about $40,000 to $50,000, according to a company spokesman. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates an HHV would cost about $7,000 more per vehicle.
"We think it's a good investment," UPS Chief Operating Officer David Abney said of the HHVs at a news conference.
Afterward, he said the company would not anticipate "mass production on our own," but if the government and other companies kicked in and if the technology met UPS' goals, the vehicles could be rolled out more widely.
In 2006, the government said that UPS would test the hydraulic hybrid system built by Cleveland-based Eaton Corp.
Delivery trucks pile up the hours and miles with city driving. They are among the most likely to benefit from a drivetrain that transfers the energy lost in braking into a series of fluid and air pumps that in turn power acceleration.
The EPA estimates it would take UPS less than three years to recover the $7,000 cost of outfitting each of its trucks with the new hydraulic system by saving money on fuel and reducing brake wear. That projection, however, depends on UPS deploying thousands of the vehicles, according to Alexander M. Cutler, Eaton's chief executive.
UPS in recent years has been looking at other technologies to improve fuel efficiency. Currently, it has about 2,000 alternative fuel vehicles.
UPS partnered with the EPA, Eaton, Navistar's International Truck and Engine Corp. and the Army in February 2005 to develop a green fleet of low-emissions vehicles. Eaton started working with EPA in 2001 to develop the hydraulics. It has already provided a similar system for the Army, which has been watching the UPS tests to see if it can use the technology to increase by half the fuel economy in its Humvees.
According to Chris Grundler of the EPA, the agency also has partnered with the state of California to test the hydraulic hybrid technology in shuttle busses.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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