FedEx: Cleaner Air with Hybrid Trucks
Case Study: Climate Change
The Opportunity
Vehicles with diesel engines contribute to toxic air pollution and smog, respiratory ailments, and increased cancer risk as well as release significant global warming pollution. Large highway trucks and buses are responsible for 36 percent of all smog-causing nitrogen oxide emissions and 26 percent of soot emissions. Diesel trucks also release global warming pollution. The combination of over 3.3 million diesel trucks in use in the U.S. today -- and 250,000 new ones being purchased each year – and high fuel prices, means decreasing pollution from diesel engines can go a long way toward cleaning up our air and saving money.
Our Strategy
The project began in 2000 when Environmental Defense Fund and FedEx started a partnership to develop a delivery truck that polluted less, used less fuel but performed as well as — if not better than — the average diesel-powered truck. The intent was to prove that significant environmental benefits are economically and functionally viable for FedEx vehicles and to accelerate the commercialization of environmentally preferable trucks.
Both organizations agreed that the overall goals of the project were to develop a delivery truck that achieved:
- 90% reduction in exhaust emissions
- 50% increase in fuel efficiency
- Same functionality as a standard delivery truck
- Cost competitiveness over the truck lifetime
Results
After a lengthy review of truck engine manufacturers, EDF and FedEx Environmental Defense chose Eaton Corporation to design a hybrid engine. After building and testing the engine, we quickly found that delivery trucks were an ideal application for hybrid technology, given their frequent stopping and starting, and their large contribution to pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Compared to a 1999 baseline vehicle, the new hybrid trucks:
- emit 96% less particulate emissions (soot)
- emit 65% less smog-causing nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, as compared to the baseline vehicle (the 1999 FedEx Express W700)
- are 57% more fuel efficient (resulting in big savings at the diesel pumps).
Today, FedEx operates the largest fleet of commercial hybrid electric trucks in North America and the transportation industry with more than 170 vehicles. The fleet recently celebrated a major milestone: more than two million miles of revenue service. The use of hybrid vehicles along with optimizing delivery routes and use of efficiently-sized vehicles, has allowed FedEx to improve FedEx Express vehicle fuel efficiency by 13.7 percent, while reducing vehicle carbon emissions by almost one billion pounds. (since 2005)
Posted: 31-Oct-2008; Updated: 09-Jan-2009
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