FedEx And Alliance For Environmental Innovation Seek More Efficient Trucks

FedEx Express and the Alliance for Environmental Innovation have invited manufacturers to submit proposals for design and development of a delivery truck that will increase fuel efficiency by 50% and reduce emissions by 90%.

FedEx Express, the world’s largest express transportation company, and the Alliance for Environmental Innovation, one of the first environmental advocacy groups to work cooperatively with business, have worked together since Spring 2000 on a project to get cleaner, economical, fuel-efficient delivery trucks on the road.

With new vehicle technology in development and impending regulations affecting diesel trucks, the FedEx-Alliance partnership signals a new demand for transportation options that meet business needs and minimize impacts on the environment. These options are needed to minimize emissions of air pollutants including soot, smog-causing emissions, and greenhouse gases linked to global climate change.

The request for proposal issued jointly by FedEx Express and the Alliance calls for design and development of a commercial delivery vehicle that will eventually replace the present FedEx Express truck. The proposed truck would work as well and cost about the same over the vehicle’s lifetime.

“Seeking out the FedEx Express truck of the future today will keep us efficient, future-focused and environmentally progressive,” said Mitch Jackson, FedEx Director of Environmental Management.

“FedEx’s purchasing power shows a strong demand for trucks that raise the standard for fuel-efficiency and low emissions,” said Elizabeth Sturcken, project manager for the Alliance.

This project seeks to

• deliver significant and measurable reductions in pollution, fuel consumption and resource use;
• prove that environmental improvements to FedEx’s current delivery vehicles are economically and functionally viable; and
• accelerate the time to market of full production-scale environmentally preferable vehicles substantially sooner than regulations require.