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UPS Adds More Than 700 Vehicles To Its Natural Gas Fleet

UPS today announced plans to build an additional five compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations and add more than 700 new CNG vehicles including 400 semi-tractors and 330 terminal trucks. This $130 million dollar investment in CNG capacity for 2018 builds on previous UPS investments of $100 million dollars in 2016 and $90 million dollars in 2017. UPS will have invested more than $1 billion in alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles and fueling stations from 2008 through 2018.

Published 6 years ago | About a 3 minute read

“We strongly believe further investment in our natural gas fleet is a key element to help us achieve our long-term goals for reducing our CO2 emissions,” said Carlton Rose, president, global fleet maintenance and engineering for UPS. “We demonstrated the effectiveness of natural gas vehicles and fuel in 2017 by using 77 million total gallon equivalents in our ground fleet. UPS is a catalyst for wide scale adoption of natural gas vehicles.”

Building CNG and LNG capacity is an important enabler for increasing UPS’s use of renewable natural gas (RNG). RNG yields up to a 90 percent reduction in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions when compared to conventional diesel. Last year, UPS used 15 million gallon equivalents of RNG. The company is the largest consumer of RNG in the transportation sector.

The five new CNG stations will be in Goodyear, Ariz., Plainfield, Ind., Edgerton, Kan., Fort Worth, Texas, and Arlington, Texas. Four hundred semi-tractors will be supplied by Freightliner and Kenworth and 330 terminal trucks by TICO. UPS will deploy the new CNG vehicles on routes to utilize the new CNG stations as well as adding to existing natural gas fleets in other UPS locations including Atlanta, Ga., and, Salt Lake City, Utah.

UPS currently operates more than 50 natural gas fueling stations strategically located across the U.S., and, outside the U.S. in Vancouver, Canada, and Tamworth, United Kingdom.

The initiative will help UPS reach its 2020 goal of one in four new vehicles purchased being an alternative fuel or advanced technology vehicle. The company has also set a goal of replacing 40 percent of all ground fuel with sources other than conventional gasoline and diesel. These goals support UPS’s commitment to reduce its GHG emissions from global ground operations 12 percent by 2025.

Using its “Rolling Laboratory” approach, UPS deploys approximately 9,100 low-emission vehicles to determine which technology works best in each route configuration. This includes all-electric, hybrid electric, hydraulic hybrid, ethanol, compressed natural gas (CNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) and propane.

For more information on UPS’s sustainability initiatives, please visit www.ups.com/sustainability. Additional information about UPS’s ongoing investments in its natural gas fleet and renewable natural gas will be available in the company’s 16th annual Sustainablity Report scheduled for publication on June 26, 2018.

About UPS

UPS is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including transporting packages and freight; facilitating international trade, and deploying advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. UPS is committed to operating more sustainably – for customers, the environment and the communities we serve around the world. Learn more about our efforts at ups.com/sustainability. Headquartered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the web at ups.com and its corporate blog can be found at longitudes.ups.com. To get UPS news direct, follow @UPS_News on Twitter.