Arch rivals FedEx and UPS launched competing green delivery initiatives this week, taking different approaches to the business of cutting carbon emissions.
Whereas FedEx announced a new fleet of electric trucks, UPS introduced a new automated delivery service designed to minimise trips to business premises.
FedEx will be putting four purpose-built electric trucks on the road in Los Angeles starting in June, it said in an announcement this week, claiming a first among delivery companies in the US.
The delivery giant is buying the vehicles from two different suppliers to evaluate the technology in advance of a broader rollout. Two of the tracks come from Navistar, while another unnamed supplier is providing the other two vehicles. All of the trucks will be able to operate for eight hours on a single charge, FedEx said.
The company already operates more than 1,800 alternative energy vehicles around the world, it said, having begun investing in hybrid electric trucks as early as 2004. The firm also hopes to introduce on-site charging for electric vehicle fleet using solar arrays or the Bloom Energy Server, a recently announced fuel cell product that it is evaluating.
UPS has similarly invested in green vehicles, but it also announced that it is to tailor its delivery management system to reduce the amount of fossil fuels it burns across its existing fleet. The company has introduced a new service targeting small businesses called Smart Pickup, which will reduce the number of trips that drivers need to make to customer premises.
Traditionally, small businesses with a regular UPS pickup have a driver dropping in daily, to see if any parcels are ready. But the new scanning system allows firms to communicate with UPS drivers so that when a small business scans a package using UPS' WorldShip scanner, the driver is alerted that a pickup is ready. If no alert arrives, then the driver need not visit the business that day.
UBS said that the system will cut distances travelled by eight million miles per year, which equates to 790,000 gallons of fuel, or 7,800 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
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