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.

Fedex Ground is teaming up with hydraulic component manufacturer Parker Hannifin to develop and field test a hydraulic hybrid delivery van. The van will use a series hybrid layout similar to one developed by FEV that is being tested by UPS. The internal combustion engine will drive a hydraulic pump which will generate pressurized fluid to drive a hydraulic motor-pump. The second motor-pump will drive the rear axle. Under braking, the rear axle will drive the motor-pump to charge a high pressure hydraulic accumulator, capturing kinetic energy. During acceleration, the high pressure accumulator can provide driving force to the motor-pump to move the truck. The hydraulic hybrid setup has the advantage of being able to absorb energy more quickly than a battery, recapturing up to seventy percent of the kinetic energy compared to thirty percent for a typical battery. Unfortunately the capacity is limited. However it works well for this type of application that has a lot of stopping and starting and low speeds. The prototype is expected to be ready for testing by Fedex sometime in 2008.

[Source: Parker-Hannifin, via Green Car Congress]

FedEx, the worlds largest express transportation company, plans to introduce 10 diesel-electric hybrid delivery vans to its European fleet. These 10 hybrids are the first for FedEx in Europe and will bring the worldwide total for FedEx hybrids to more than 100. FedEX has 95 hybrids in the US, Canada and Japan fleet and the new European hybrid vans will be trailed close to the manufacturers', Iveco, site in Turin, Italy.

The FedEx press release says the van, called the Daily, can run in either diesel or electric but on further research it appears the Daily can also be plugged in. The vans will be unveiled for the first time at the European Road Transport Show in Amsterdam, Oct. 24 through Nov. 3. FedEx is making this strategic investment to help drive the commercial development of new technologies for industry. It's also freaking cool. Imagine the range on that thing.

[Source: FedEx press release via Treehugger, Green Car Congress]

Maybe I should have worded that title a bit differently. Case studies in and of themselves might not make for the most interesting piece of reading, but this one might be an exception. That is, if you are interested in hybrid vehicles and the collaborations of very large American corporations. I am sure you are interested in hybrids, at least.

I feel compelled to add that I have always had very good service from FedEx. If you order computer parts from Newegg, which I have (more times than I should admit to), then you have probably experienced how quickly the shipment has come. That proves to me that when I order something from somebody else, and it ships through FedEx but takes weeks to get to me, it is not FedEx that is taking their dear sweat time! Another thing - ever see Cast Away? That guy really took his job at FedEx seriously.

Yeah, anyway, check out the case study (warning: .pdf file). The goal, as you will see if you read through it, was to create a replacement for the "W700" delivery vehicle. They were looking for something that got better fuel mileage (by 50 percent) and "dramatically reduced emissions". This was all done after FedEx had tested some alternative vehicles in the 1990s and came away seemingly unimpressed. But after some meetings with Environmental Defense and their auto suppliers, they realized that they should give it another shot. I'll stop there so I don't ruin the ending for you, 'cause I'm cool like that.

Related:

• Road&Track tests the FedEx W700 Hybrid
• FedEx to Add Hybrid Vans to its Fleet

[Source: Stanford via Hybrid Car & Vehicle News via Hugg]

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]