UPS currently operates 94,542 ground vehicles worldwide. The company's ground fleet strategy is to take a leadership role in advancing the development of future generations of delivery vehicles that reduce dependence on fossil fuels and significantly reduce fuel consumption and emissions.

This strategy has two specific practical applications. In the short term, as older vehicles are retired, they are replaced with low-emission, fuel-efficient vehicles. In the long term, we are working towards reduced dependence on fossil fuels.

As of year-end 2006, the company operated 19,647 low-emission vehicles worldwide. That number will continue to rise as older delivery vehicles reach the end of their life cycles and are replaced with newer, more efficient ones.

 Managing our Ground Fleet
 Alternative-Fuel Fleet Overview
 Alternative-Fuel Fleet

Managing our Ground Fleet

Leading-edge technology keeps our delivery fleet in top form. Through careful route planning and world-class maintenance standards, our automotive engineering experts are dedicated to economizing fuel use and minimizing emissions.

Automotive Information System (AIS): UPS’s proprietary Automotive Information System is a sophisticated matrix which notifies mechanics when a specific vehicle should undergo a preventive maintenance inspection. AIS removes the guesswork in planning labor for vehicle repairs, maintaining parts inventory and estimating fuel usage, allowing engineers to monitor trends and constantly refine methods and specifications.

Preventive Maintenance Inspections: UPS keeps its delivery fleet in top condition through preventive maintenance inspections (PMIs). Our mechanics perform a PMI based on information in our Automotive Information System, such as miles driven, days of service and engine type for each vehicle. The PMI process is tailored to each individual vehicle, and it ensures peak performance through better fuel economy and lower emissions. In fact, our PMI process has been so effective that other companies and government agencies have consulted with UPS's automotive engineers and adopted some of our maintenance procedures.

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Alternative-Fuel Fleet Overview

Fuel conservation has been a priority at UPS since the early days of the company. In the 1930s, UPS pioneered the use of electric-powered vehicles in New York City, beginning the company's legacy of pursuing cleaner and more efficient alternative fuels. Through the years, countless resources and time have been devoted to numerous programs and technologies to help us meet our goal of increased fuel efficiency.

Today, UPS operates the largest alternative fuel-fleet in the transportation industry, including compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane, fuel cell, electric, hybrid electric and hydraulic hybrid vehicles.

We have invested roughly US$15 million to deploy significant numbers of alternative-fuel vehicles in our fleet. While maintaining our current alternative fuel vehicles, we are also working with manufacturers, government agencies and non-profit organizations to advance new fuel technologies.

UPS developed and continues to enhance its fleet using a "rolling laboratory" philosophy -- using its alternative-fuel fleet as a way to learn about how new technologies and advancements can be adapted for use in a large delivery fleet.

Last year, we reported that UPS’s alternative-fuel fleet included about 1,500 vehicles. Today, that number is 1,323. The reduction is due to the retirement of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles in the U.S. that were converted from diesel in the 1980s. As these vehicles are retired, they are being replaced with new diesel vehicles that are more fuel-efficient and produce fewer emissions than the retrofitted CNG technology from the 1980s.

In 2006, UPS’s global fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles traveled nearly 18 million miles making deliveries around the world. Since just 2000, our alternative-fuel fleet has traveled more than 126 million miles. While our green fleet dates back to the 1930s, UPS did not isolate alternative-fuel miles driven prior to 2000.

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Alternative-Fuel Fleet

Learn more about UPS and alternative fuels

Fuel Cell Vehicles: UPS was the first company to deploy a medium-duty hydrogen-powered vehicle in North America. Our research began in October 2003, when UPS deployed its first DaimlerChrysler Sprinter fuel-cell vehicle in Stuttgart, Germany. This vehicle was retired in 2004, and we deployed two additional fuel-cell vehicles with more advanced technology later that year. These two vehicles operated in Ontario, Calif., and Ann Arbor, Mich., through April 2007. Fuel cells work by converting energy into electricity without combustion. Water vapor and heat are the only emissions produced.

Hybrid Electric Vehicles: UPS was the first package delivery company to introduce a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) into daily operations with a research program that began in 1998. In 2000, we deployed a hybrid electric vehicle in Huntsville, Ala. As part of this test, UPS successfully used the energy stored in this vehicle to provide 80 percent of the electricity needed to power the local sorting facility’s conveyor system and lights. UPS deployed a second-generation HEV that operated in Kalamazoo, Mich., for several months during 2004.

HEV technology offers significant potential to dramatically decrease emissions and fuel consumption by primarily operating on batteries and electric drive motors.

In 2006, we announced the purchase of 50 next-generation HEVs. Those vehicles promise a 45 percent improvement in fuel economy over the vehicles they are replacing and collectively will save 44,000 gallons of fuel annually. This will reduce CO₂ emissions by 457 metric tonnes each year.

Learn more about UPS HEV trucks

Hydraulic Hybrid Vehicles: During 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and others launched the world’s first full-series hydraulic hybrid delivery truck. UPS currently is testing this technology, which achieved a 60-70 percent improvement in fuel economy during lab tests.

Learn more about hydraulic hybrid technology

Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Vehicles: UPS has one of the largest private fleets of CNG vehicles with 707 operating in the United States, Germany, France and Brazil.

UPS began extensively testing CNG in 1989 to assess its benefits and viability as an alternative fuel. The results have been impressive: particulate emissions are 95 percent lower than with diesel engines; carbon monoxide emissions are 75 percent lower; and emissions of nitrogen oxides are 49 percent lower than the vehicles they replaced.

Propane-Powered Vehicles: We operate 588 propane delivery vehicles in Canada and in Mexico. Propane vehicles emit about one-third fewer reactive organic gases than gasoline-fueled vehicles. Nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide emissions are also 20 percent and 60 percent less than conventional vehicles.

Liquefied Natural Gas Tractors: UPS was the first in the package delivery industry to introduce alternative-fuel tractors into its fleet. Currently, 11 liquefied natural gas (LNG) tractors operate in our West Coast fleet, hauling more than 31,000 packages a day. Because of its density, LNG is a viable alternative-fuel source for large trucks that need to go long distances before stopping to refuel.

Zero-Emission Electric Vehicles: UPS operates two full-size electric package cars in Manhattan, N.Y. Additionally, UPS operated an electric package delivery car in Santiago, Chile, from 2001 to 2006. We also tested 13 zero-emission electric minivans in downtown Los Angeles, Calif. These vehicles had a range of 80 to 90 miles and were primarily used to make Next Day Air deliveries and pickups.

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