UPS set to deploy new, longer-range EVs

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Updated May 11, 2018
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The familiar brown box trucks that run your neighborhood roads and deliver your Amazon packages are getting a facelift … if you live in Europe, or plan to move there by year’s end.

UPS, among the world’s largest carriers, announced today it is working with UK-based technology firm Arrival to develop a state-of-the-art pilot fleet of 35 electric delivery vehicles (EVs) that will run trial routes in London and Paris. Arrival is the first commercial vehicle manufacturer in Europe to provide purpose-built electric delivery vehicles to UPS’s specifications. The two companies have been developing prototypes of different sizes for nearly two years.

These zero tailpipe emission, lightweight composite vehicles have a battery range of more than 150 miles, higher than other EVs currently in service.

The vehicles come equipped with Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) that help to improve safety and reduce driver fatigue. These features, combined with a highly advanced vehicle display provide the driver with an intelligent and connected vehicle.

“We’re excited to collaborate with UPS to create an affordable, modular, fully electric delivery vehicle designed to make deliveries in our busy cities clean and quiet,” Arrival CEO Denis Sverdlov says. “With its unique, wrap-around front window the driver has a much wider field of view that improves not only the safety of the driver but also that of cyclists and pedestrians.”

UPS first introduced EVs into its U.S. fleet in the in the 1930s, and reintroduced modern EVs in 2001. Currently, UPS has more than 300 electric vehicles deployed in Europe and the U.S., and nearly 700 hybrid electric vehicles.