UPS Tries Out Small Electric Trucks for Localized Delivery
Even when delivering packages, bigger is not always better. ZAP, the quirky maker of electric vehicles, has announced that an office of United Parcel Service in California will be using their vehicles for localized delivery. From their press release:
The UPS branch in Petaluma, California has leased an initial fleet of 42 ZAP Xebra® electric city cars and trucks for their small parcel deliveries. This is the first time that UPS has used electric city-speed vehicles for this purpose.
Small parcel deliveries are becoming more challenging for the trademark big, brown UPS delivery vans, which is why UPS is using the electric city cars and trucks to handle small parcel deliveries. The ZAP vehicles lessen fuel consumption and reduce automotive emissions produced by current delivery vehicles. Drivers will be monitoring their electrical usage to carefully analyze cost-savings and emissions reductions.
I should note here that I am a shareholder in ZAP. Not much, just a few hundred dollars worth.These vehicles travel at city speeds up to 40mph. Not much but if you’ve driven in California traffic you’ll know that 40mph is often hard to attain. Certainly trying to squeeze one of these little Xebra trucks into a small space for a delivery is much easier than the big brown box of a truck UPS normally drives. Of course, there are more conventional alternatives — a minivan or small SUV could also do the trick, although without the fanfare, the fuel savings or the reduced emissions.
Other choices exist on the open market. Chrysler has the GEM electric NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle) on the market. You’ve probably seen a few of the all passenger versions running around downtown or on the SLU campus. These are great little electric vehicles that are street legal but are limited to 25mph to avoid additional requirements.
I’m also a fan of the Bajaj 3-wheel gasoline vehicle, available in passenger, pickup or delivery van versions (shown left). This Indian company make the classic 3-wheel passenger taxi we think of when we see images of India. Like the ZAP Xebra, these 3-wheel vehicles are regulated as motorcycles. The Bajaj is available locally at the Extreme Toy Store in Rock Hill.
How does the Bajaj’s carbon footprint compare to a typical UPS delivery car? The big challenge for delivery companies using smaller vehicles is simply capacity – firms like UPS want to have them loaded at the start of the day and emptied at the end of the day, with no return trips to the distribution depot during the day, in between, for “refills”. (UPS even uses 12′ trailers in places to increase capacity when longer drives are involved). While fuel cost is a major component for them, so are labor and maintenance costs. UPS does a lot of research to maximize the productivity of their drivers, and while it’s hard to tell, they keep their vehicles a long time, maximizing their life and return on investment, and being green before green was cool!
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These little guys make a whole lotta sense for the Papa John’s, Dominos and Pizz Huts of the world, but they usually rely on their drivers providing their own vehicles . . . Still, they’re an interesting concept and well worth exploring. I’m still putting my money on diesel hybrids combined with rooftop solar panels – that should be the real answer for folks like UPS who need larger vehicles.
Good, but what about here? The large trucks are constantly speeding through our neighborhood streets, wasteing fuel, and causing a great deal of noise and pollution. The public and our elected leaders should insist on responsible delivery services. Mini-vans would be a step in the right direction.
The Bajaj 3-wheeler, whos roots go back to the Vespa Ape (also still widely used across Europe) uses the same 150cc, 4-stroke engine as the Chetak and Legend scooters. Emissions data is published on their web site, here: http://www.argousa.com/emissions.htm
While we were in Europe last year, I never saw anything larger than a VW T-4 (Eurovan here) or something that looked like a shrunk-down Mercedes Sprinter van used as delivery and service vehicles in the cities. In fact, I saw a LOT of Vespa Apes still being used for delivery and handyman service vehicles!
UPS has a culture based on efficiency. This article identifies some of their efforts: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20060716/ai_n16540534 I seriously doubt that they send out two trucks that are only a quarter full when they could send out just one that’s more than half full. And as your post shows, they’re continuing to try new stuff. Plus, with Christmas rolling around, they’re adding seasonal workers to match demand with resources.
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Vehicle size (and perceived speed) in residential areas continues to be controversial (and a matter of perception), whether it’s UPS and other delivery vehicles, buses, garbage trucks or fire trucks. While smaller vehicles may be able to “do the job”, eventually, most fleet managers choose the right size vehicle for a specific job. The UPS delivery car is sized for the number and size of packages the Teamster delivery driver will deliver in a typical day. It’s tall so they can walk thru and find packages easily. Yes, it could be shorter and/or narrower, but based on many years of real-world experience, combined with current rules and regulations, the current version delivers the best results (best trade-off between fuel economy, working conditions, efficiency of movement and maneuverability in urban and suburban areas). And yes, in rural areas, smaller vehicles (like Econoline vans) are used where distances are greater and cutomers are fewer and further apart.
UPS had a large fleet of electric delivery vans in the New York area until the fifties. Glasgow Corporation had Garrett electric and Tilling Stevens Electrics, the latter delivered as late as 1951. Batteries were charged by steam generated from garbage incinerators. Many British dairies used electrics for milk delivery. Stoney Plain Dairy in Hamilton, Ontario had electrics until the sixties. The Boyertown people in Pennsylvania were importing electric chassis from Britain at least until the seventies. However it seems that if it is not driven by a series of explosions in a cast iron pot, it has no credibility!
Doing my darndest to save the trolley coaches in Edmonton from the deisel lovers.
Bob Clark
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