FedEx has already managed to rack up over two million miles in its fleet of hybrid delivery vehicles, and will now be further padding that number thanks to ten additional diesel hybrid vans from Iveco for use in Europe. The vans officially began their duty in Milan and Turin, Italy on July 10th. While we are most interested in the CO₂ emissions savings, FedEx will surely enjoy the corresponding 30-percent reduction in fuel use.

In what could be the most important news from this story, though, Iveco claims that it will begin regular production of the diesel hybrid vans by the end of 2009. If that is the case, any commercial customers that are interested in purchasing the fuel-savers will be able to follow the lead of FedEx, which has already proven the technology to be commercially viable.

[Source: Iveco]

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According to FedEx, its hybrid delivery vehicles have saved approximately 83,000 gallons of fuel and eliminated 950 tons of greenhouse gas emissions while racking up an impressive 2 million miles overall. Because of this success, the global delivery giant will be adding 75 new hybrid vehicles to its fleet, making for a total of 172 hybrid vehicles. The hybrid trucks used by FedEx are said to improve fuel economy by 42 percent, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 30 percent and cut particulate pollution by 96 percent.

FedEx uses hybrid technology from Eaton, Isuzu, Iveco and Azure Dynamics with Ford engines and chassis. That's a lot of different systems for one company. Mitch Jackson, director of Environmental Affairs and Sustainability at FedEx, calls for "truck manufacturing industry to create its version of the Prius: clean, affordable and widely available for truck fleets."

FedEx also plans to test Class 6 vehicles using hybrid hydraulic technology from Parker Hannifin Corporation and replace some of their air fleet with more efficient Boeing 757 planes. All of these changes will result in less fuel consumption, helping FedEx's bottom line and, more importantly, reduce harmful emissions.

I've been a long-time reader of Road&Track, and as long as I can remember, the April issue has always featured a special road test of a vehicle, outside the usual fare that they serve up. Past issues have included the likes of the Concorde, a Zamboni, the Goodyear blimp and a sedan chair. The April 2007 issue is no exception, featuring a comparison test of the some members of the DHL, UPS and FedEx delivery fleets.

Of interest to ABG readers in particular is the FedEx W700 Hybrid. This rolling delivery warehouse has 700 cu. ft. of interior volume for all those packages, and a parallel hybrid drive-train developed by Eaton. It uses a 4.3L four cylinder Mercedes-Benz diesel, mated with a 60hp electric motor and a 340V lithium-ion battery pack. The hybrid truck was the slowest of the three with a 0-60mph time of 20.9, although it was also more than twice the weight of the DHL and UPS vans. Actual fuel economy numbers are proprietary, but FedEx claims that the hybrid gets 42 percent better fuel efficiency than the standard W700.

[Source: Road&Track]