Collaboration for a Cleaner World

Mike Britt | UPS 

I live about 40 miles from work. If I leave at 6 a.m. when the morning rush begins, it takes me an hour to get to the office. And it takes me 70 minutes to get home if I leave at 5 p.m. This is the norm for the average commuter in Atlanta.

Without changes, it will only get worse.

With the rise of megacities around the world, traffic congestion is inescapable – or so it seems.

It’s also no surprise that with a larger number of cars on the road, air pollution is a real problem. In particular, slower moving traffic emits more pollution than cars at highway speeds.

My wife and I are doing our part to help the cause. I drive a propane vehicle, and she drives a Nissan Leaf electric vehicle. While we can each have a positive impact, this issue will take wider action.

Policymakers around the world are searching for answers on carbon emissions, and citizens around the world expect businesses to contribute to the solution.

How can those of us in the delivery space play our part – while meeting our customers’ needs?

It starts with collaboration

There are many ways to attack this challenge. But we’ve developed a system that works for us.

At UPS, we collaborate with other businesses to maximize results and tap into creative solutions. We’re clear-eyed about challenges and resources – by combining our skills, technology and solutions with other partners’, we make the impossible, possible.

For example, UPS partners with ElektroFahrzeuge-Stuttgart GmbH (EFA-S), a company committed to transporting goods into cities through emission-free transport.

When the EU and other government bodies passed laws allowing only noiseless, zero-emission vehicles in European city centers, delivery methods had to change.

While vehicle manufacturers could develop more electric vehicles, there was no simple solution for vehicles already on the road.

Upgrading delivery fleets takes time. That’s where EFA-S comes in.

They can take any diesel- or gas-powered vehicle and convert it into an electric vehicle, helping companies meet government regulations and operate efficiently. With the help of EFA-S, UPS put its 100th electric vehicle in UPS’s European delivery fleet last year.

UPS also partners with Tevva Motors to put new zero-emission freight trucks on the road.

Tevva Motors develops and produces electric drivetrains for 7.5-ton trucks, primarily for the urban delivery market. Using a range extender, the batteries are recharged while the vehicle is on the road. ­

Its Predictive Range Extender Management System (PREMS) software calculates the vehicle’s daily energy needs and ensures the range extender operates only when necessary. The best part is that the truck never runs out of range, allowing us to do more with it.

But this is just a small part of the bigger picture.

A better world

Thanks to our size and scale, we can set an example for others in our industry, as well as those where our customers do business.

Our sustainability commitments can shape industry commitments and make alternative fuels the norm.

By 2020, one in four new vehicles purchased by UPS will be an alternative fuel or advanced technology vehicle. By 2025, we aim to have 40 percent of all ground fuel from sources other than conventional gasoline and diesel.

We now operate more than 8,300 alternative fuel and advanced technology vehicles worldwide – and this is just the beginning.

We want to change mindsets, and we can only do that by working together.

Mike Britt is Director of Maintenance & Engineering at UPS.

Click here to download UPS's latest Sustainability Report