 Nov. 12, 2008 - Following a successful testing phase, UPS has placed orders for 12 custom-built, zero-emission electric vans, slated for deployment in the carrier's German and British delivery fleets early next year.
Developed by British manufacturer Modec, the vehicles will operate out of UPS’s Camden facility, which lies within London’s Low Emission Zone and is the company’s central package facility in the capital.
During the nine month trial earlier this year, the vehicle averaged eighteen miles and just a 25% battery consumption each day during the course of its operations throughout London. Each zero emission vehicle can undertake one hundred miles on one overnight charge, with batteries in future models set to increase the range to 150 miles per two-three hour charges.
Another attractive feature of the vehicle for the company’s British fleet is that the vehicles will not be subject to costly inspections, road taxes, or London’s infamous congestion charge because it is electric.
UPS currently operates the transportation industry’s largest private fleet of alternative fuel vehicles. In April, UPS deployed 167 new compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles in cities throughout the U.S., and then added another 500 hybrid-electric and CNG vehicles to the fleet a month later. Last month the company announced the successful trial and purchase of a fleet of hydraulic hybrid vehicles for its U.S. fleet. |
