UPS Orders More Fuel-Efficient Plastic Body Vans

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July 5, 2012

United Parcel Service (UPS) has ordered 150 new delivery trucks, manufactured with composite plastic, which are 40 percent more fuel efficient than traditional aluminum vans.

The company tested the new trucks for a year in several regions before moving forward with the CV-23 prototype vehicles, according to a New York Times report.

Developed by Ultimaster using Isuzu diesel engines, the vehicles -- which are about 900 pounds lighter than the P70 widely used in the UPS fleet -- are expected to be on the road by fourth quarter of this year. They will be used primarily on high-mileage routs in the Western region of the country.

“We wanted to put these trucks out in our operational centers to duplicate the real world conditions our vehicles undergo,” Dale Spencer, director of automotive engineering at UPS, said during a conference call announcing the new truck orders, noting that the yearlong field test was preceded by three years of development. He called the new trucks, which also include recycled rubber and plastic, “rolling test beds” for energy savings technology.

The field test proved to UPS that the new vehicles could meet all durability challenges, Lynnette McIntire, a sustainability spokeswoman for UPS, told the New York Times, noting that the new plastic composite might also be used in heavier UPS trucks in the future.

The only downside to the new design is that the cargo space is slightly smaller – at 630 cubic feet -- than the 700 cubic feet P70 models, but UPS said it anticipates the upsides to outweigh that deficit.

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