UPS purchasing 100 EVI all-electric vehicles for California

UPS on Thursday, Aug. 25, announced the purchase of 100 all-electric delivery vehicles for deployment in California, bolstering the company’s continuing effort to reduce the emissions of its truck fleet and improve its energy security. The 100 vehicles will be acquired from Electric Vehicles International of Stockton, Calif., and will replace older generation diesel trucks in the largest single deployment of zero tailpipe emissions delivery vehicles in the state.

“This purchase is a milestone for UPS’s alternative fleet expansion,” says Mike Britt, UPS director of vehicle engineering. “UPS’s research and development of alternative technologies has determined it is time to explore electric drive systems within the short-range segment of our delivery fleet. This purchase is an important first step in supporting investment and advancement in electric vehicle technology. EVI’s vehicle met our requirements in the test phase. Now we will operate these vehicles in the real world and help establish the future viability of this technology.”

UPS, which currently has 28 all-electric vehicles in its fleet operating in New York City and in Europe, says the EVI electric vehicles will have a 90-mile range and displace an estimated 126,000 gallons of fuel a year that would have been burned running diesel trucks. “The advantage of an electric powertrain is zero tailpipe emissions.” says Britt. “These trucks will be perfectly suited for our short-range urban delivery routes.”