Skip to main content

FedEx closes in on vehicle fleet fuel efficiency goal years ahead of schedule

FedEx Express says it has made significant progress towards its goal to make its vehicle fleet 20 per cent more fuel efficient by 2020, and announced that its vehicle fleet is now 16.6 per cent more fuel efficient through FY2011 than it was in 2005. Twenty per cent of the FedEx Express diesel vehicle pickup and delivery fleet has already been converted to more efficient and cleaner emission models that comply with 2010 US Environmental Protection Agency diesel emission standards.
May 17, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSS756 FedEx Express says it has made significant progress towards its goal to make its vehicle fleet 20 per cent more fuel efficient by 2020, and announced that its vehicle fleet is now 16.6 per cent more fuel efficient through FY2011 than it was in 2005. Twenty per cent of the FedEx Express diesel vehicle pickup and delivery fleet has already been converted to more efficient and cleaner emission models that comply with 2010 US 1999 Environmental Protection Agency diesel emission standards.

“Although we are less than halfway to the end date we set for ourselves, we have achieved 80 per cent of our vehicle fuel efficiency goal as of the conclusion of fiscal year 2011, compared to our original baseline set in 2005,” said Mitch Jackson, staff vice president of environmental affairs and sustainability, FedEx Corporation. “As a result, we are re-evaluating our 2020 goal to potentially raise the standard we originally set out to achieve.”

The company says its significant progress is the result of a number of initiatives including acceleration of its efforts in fuel conservation through the purchase of vehicles with right-sized engines like the Sprinter vans manufactured by Mercedes-Benz. By the end of FY13, FedEx will have more than 11,000 such vehicles in service, more than 35 per cent of its US pick-up and delivery fleet. Each Sprinter-type van is about 70 to 100 per cent more fuel-efficient than the original truck it replaces. The company will shortly add another 87 all-electric trucks to its green fleet bringing the count to 130, and has added 114 Reach composite-body trucks manufactured from advanced materials by Utilimaster on an Isuzu Motors chassis with an appropriately-sized engine. The lower weight design, along with the engine, is expected to save up to 35 per cent in fuel over most conventional walk-in vans.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • 90,000 e-truck charge points needed, says Scania boss
    April 28, 2020
    European auto group calls for massive increase in charging points for electric trucks.
  • Future EV owners can make money from the power grid
    May 17, 2012
    In what is being claimed as a landmark research report published by Ricardo and National Grid in the UK, the market potential is demonstrated for an electric plug-in vehicle fleet of the future to provide balancing services to the power grid on a commercial basis, returning value to vehicle owners while improving the carbon efficiency of grid operation.
  • Study highlights potential of ITS to reduce CO2
    September 17, 2015
    Ertico-ITS, in cooperation with the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA), has carried out an internal study on the potential contribution of intelligent transport systems (ITS) to reducing CO2 emissions in passenger cars, in support of ACEA’s CO2 reduction strategy for post-2020.
  • Carbon finance delivers critical support to mass transit schemes
    February 2, 2012
    David Crawford investigates carbon finance in transport. World Bank carbon finance grants are delivering critical support to major mass transit deployments in emerging and developing economies. Only recently operative in the transport sector, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM, see panel) is designed to generate additional income streams and improve internal rates of return on projects funded from public- and private-sector sources.