SCBIZ Daily Staff

GAFFNEY – UPS has placed an order with Daimler Trucks North America to supply 500 environmentally-friendly commercial vehicles — the largest order of alternative-fuel and drive train commercial vehicles to date.

UPS has ordered 200 hybrid electric vehicles and 300 compressed natural gas vehicles, which will be manufactured by Daimler’s Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation based in Gaffney. The vehicles will be part of FCCC’s walk-in van MT45 and MT55 chassis product line and used by UPS for daily delivery operations across the United States. UPS currently has a fleet of conventional diesel power train vehicles.

"This order reflects the proven durability, reliability, and cost benefits of operating DTNA's alternative-fuel vehicles. The technology is available now to begin to achieve both the environmental and fuel economy goals to meet our customer's operational requirements," according to Mike Stark FCCC senior technical sales manager of National Accounts.

FCCC is the first manufacturer in the industry to introduce hybrid commercial vehicles into fleet operations, with over 160 hybrid electric vehicles in service since 2004, in addition to over 1,000 compressed natural gas-fueled chassis in service since 2000.

"Our hybrid vehicles have proven the chassis' durability and reliability, by meeting the rigorous demands of the pick-up and delivery duty cycle. They recently surpassed the two-million in-service mile mark operating in this tough environment," says Jonathan Randall FCCC director of sales and marketing.

The hybrid-electric power train, combined with a diesel engine and electric motor, drive the FCCC chassis to achieve more than a 40% improvement in fuel economy and more than a 90% reduction in emissions compared to baseline non-hybrid vehicles.

The 200 hybrid electric vehicles will be deployed in 2009 and join the 25 FCCC HEV delivery trucks already in operation at UPS. The 200 trucks are expected to save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,786 tons each year.

Daimler has already delivered some 1,500 Orion hybrid buses, more than 160 Freightliner trucks as well as 300 buses and trucks from Fuso. Added to this are 1,500 Mercedes-Benz trucks and buses as well as over 1,000 FCCC vehicles that run on natural gas. As a result, Daimler has the world's largest fleet of environmentally-friendly commercial vehicles in use by customers.