October 19, 2016 Vol. 13 No. 21

For those of you who thought the hybrid truck was dead in the face of cheap diesel fuel and the now fading growth of natural gas, think again. I had been tending to that point of view myself, but United Parcel Service sure hasn’t.

Last month it announced it was putting 50 hydraulic-hybrid delivery trucks into service in the Chicago metro area. The first of them are already in use.

Note that I wrote hydraulic hybrids. Not electric. I’ve long thought the hydraulic idea made excellent sense in some applications — actually quite a few — but if any variation on the hybrid theme was thought to be on its last legs, this was it. Not so, I’m pleased to hear.

More on this in a bit.

UPS is also adding 200 new hybrid-electric delivery trucks that feature a 2-cylinder engine and E-Gen chassis to its alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet. They deliver about four times the fuel economy of a gasoline-powered vehicle, the company says. They also sport a real time telematics performance monitoring system that provides feedback for energy monitoring and route efficiency.

The trucks will be deployed in January 2017 starting at locations in Arizona, Texas, Nevada, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. None in Canada.

The technology in the trucks is the same used in the 125 vehicles UPS announced for its fleet in May this year.

“The improvements in these new package cars came from real-world experience in our alternative fuel Rolling Laboratory, which earlier this year hit a one-billion-miles-driven milestone,” said Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president, global engineering and sustainability.

BACK TO THE HYDRAULIC TRUCKS in Chicago. Made by Colorado-based Lightning Hybrids, the trucks were partially funded by Drive Clean Chicago, a program that aims to accelerate the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles and infrastructure in the city.

The hybrid systems are converting Freightliner MT-55s with gasoline engines into cleaner and more fuel-efficient delivery trucks, substantially reducing NOx emissions. UPS anticipates an ROI of one to two years on these vehicles.