FACT SHEET: Hybrid Electric Vehicle - FedEx OptiFleet E700

Summary

FedEx Express, Environmental Defense and Eaton Corporation have introduced an environmentally superior delivery vehicle that could become a standard medium-duty delivery truck in the FedEx Express fleet. This project demonstrates that hybrid technology is real, and with expanded industry use and government tax incentives the technology has the potential to become an industry standard. By being the first company to make a long-term market commitment to hybrid electric delivery trucks, FedEx Express has demonstrated that good environmental sense makes good business sense.

Project Goals

1. Develop a FedEx Express pick up and delivery vehicle that significantly decreases particulate emissions and smog causing emissions (nitrogen oxides), increases fuel economy, functions equivalently and, over its lifetime, costs the same as the standard FedEx Express medium-duty W700 delivery truck.
2. Prove that significant environmental benefits are economically and functionally viable for FedEx Express vehicles.
3. Accelerate the time-to-market of full production-scale environmentally preferable vehicles substantially sooner than regulations require.

Environmental Benefits

With the introduction of the FedEx OptiFleet E700 hybrid electric vehicle, FedEx Express will generate significant environmental benefits and reinforce that the actions of one company can create powerful results. The environmental benefits of the hybrid electric trucks add up quickly.

For example, the use of 10,000 hybrid electric vehicles, rather than current standard vehicles, could generate substantial reductions in emissions and fuel use:

• Smog-causing emissions (nitrogen oxides) would be reduced by 2,000 tons, the equivalent of taking passenger cars off New York City roads for one month.
• Soot (particulate emissions) would be reduced by 60,000 lbs, or about the amount emitted from 290,000 campfires.
• Carbon dioxide emissions would be reduced by 75,000 tons, which is equivalent to planting 1.9 million urban trees.
• Diesel fuel usage would be reduced by 6,500,000 gallons, which requires 930,000 barrels of crude oil to produce.

Timeline

• August 2000: FedEx Express and Environmental Defense agree to create the next generation of cleaner, more fuel-efficient pick-up and delivery trucks.
• February 2001: Environmental Defense and FedEx Express invite manufacturers to submit proposals for the design and development of a delivery truck of the future.
• February 2002: Three companies, Allison Transmission Division of General Motors, BAE SYSTEMS Controls and Eaton Corporation, are selected from over 20 suppliers to produce a prototype vehicle of the next generation of FedEx Express delivery trucks.
• November 2002: Prototype hybrid electric trucks were tested for performance against a baseline FedEx Express delivery vehicle at Southwest Research Institute.
• May 2003: FedEx Express agrees to purchase 20 hybrid electric diesel delivery trucks using Eaton's innovative hybrid electric technology.
• Feb - July 2004: Twenty pre-production vehicles will begin operating in four U.S. cities. The first two will be rolled out in Sacramento, CA; other cities have not yet been named.
• 2005: As the trucks succeed in meeting project goals, FedEx OptiFleet E700 hybrid electric trucks would be purchased on the company’s normal purchasing schedule for routes in the U.S. and Canada, where medium-sized delivery trucks are used.