"Green" Fleets Are Saving Cash
By Ron Cogan
Alternative fuels have had a tough go of it over the years. After all, it’s a real challenge encouraging drivers to embrace any alternative that costs substantially more than what they’re used to in their everyday lives, regardless of the benefit. While that dynamic may be shifting because of historically high gas prices and a growing focus on global warming, if the drive to commercialize alternative fuels depended solely on consumers it would surely be a very long road to change.
That’s why fleets are so important. For years, larger fleets faced federal and sometimes state requirements that prompted them to incorporate a percentage of alternative fuel vehicles in their overall fleet operations. Some have embraced alternative fuels to an extent far beyond that required, or even stepped up to alternative fuels without any regulation or outside influences at all. Others found their road to doing the right thing prompted for less than ideal reasons, such as large supermarkets required to implement alternative fuel commercial trucks to offset the pollution their diesel trucks were emitting in surrounding neighborhoods as food was brought to market. Regardless of the motivation, the need or desire to “go green” has often enough manifested with fleets leading the way.
Today, there’s additional reason why fleets are showing increasing interest in alternative fuels and more advanced, fuel-efficient technologies. There’s a focus on reducing CO2 emissions and a company’s carbon footprint. Diesel costs have risen to extraordinary levels, prompting interest in a shift to alternatives that can reduce dependence on petroleum and cut operating costs. Those savings are important to us, too, because fuel surcharges passed along to consumers are becoming the norm as fleets of all kinds seek to offset the higher cost of doing business. For everyone, there’s money to be saved and environmental improvement to be achieved.
A recent move by United Parcel Service (UPS) reinforces the win-win nature of a shift to alternative fuels. In three states, UPS is deploying 167 additional delivery vehicles that operate on clean – and considerably less expensive – compressed natural gas (CNG). These vehicles join an already substantial number of alternative fuel vehicles used every day in the global UPS fleet.
The new CNG delivery vehicles are operating in Dallas, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; and five cities in California that include Sacramento, Los Angeles, Ontario, San Ramon, and Fresno. They join a fleet of over 800 U.S. based UPS vehicles that that were converted to natural gas use in the 1980s. An important distinction is that these new CNG vehicles were built originally to run on this clean alternative fuel.
"UPS has deployed alternative fuel vehicles for more than 70 years and this CNG deployment is one more step towards the 'greening' of the UPS fleet," says Robert Hall, the delivery company’s director of vehicle engineering. He adds that "continuing to add CNG delivery trucks to our fleet is a sustainable choice because natural gas is a cost effective, clean-burning, and readily available fuel." In fact, compared to the cleanest diesel engines available, UPS expects the trucks to net a 10 percent improvement in fuel efficiency while also achieving a 20 percent emissions reduction.
While natural gas represents the largest part of UPS’ 1629 truck “green” fleet worldwide, it isn’t the only fuel being used. The company also operates trucks that run on propane, electric, and hybrid power. And their impact? To weigh this, consider that the UPS green fleet has traveled 143 million miles since 2000. That’s an immense displacement in petroleum use and significant emissions reductions. It’s also a lead that other companies, and individual consumers, would do well to follow.
Want to know more about alternative fuels and fleets? Be sure to check out these articles on GreenCar.com:
The Role of NGVs in Oil Displacement
Cars that Say “Goodbye to Gasoline”
2009 Mercedes-Benz B-Series Runs on Natural Gas
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