Coca-Cola Enterprises (US) has announced that it is more than doubling the size of its hybrid electric delivery fleet, Coca-Cola will have the largest hybrid delivery fleet in North America with 327 hybrid trucks on the road. The new hybrid trucks will be comparable in capacity to the company’s current large delivery trucks, with a gross weight of about 25 tonnes. But they will consume 30% less fuel.
Meanwhile, the US Arrmy has announced that it will lease 4,000 electric vehicles. The electric vehicles will be used in non-tactical roles on Army bases for passenger transport, security patrol, and maintenance and delivery services. The first of the "NEV’s" (Neighbourhood Electric Vehicles) will be four-passenger sedans, and utility vehicles able to carry two passengers and a 450 kilogram load. They will have a top speed of 40 kilometres per hour and a range of about 50 kilometres on a full, 8-hour charge.
The Army expects that fuel costs for the electric vehicles will be about one third of the cost for equivalent petrol vehicles and that their use will reduce the Army’s fuel consumption by about 44 million litres over six years.
The Army is also developing eight new types of hybrid-electric armoured vehicles for battlefield deployment. These are intended to reduce the Army’s dependence on fossil fuels and reduce the number of refueling convoys exposed in combat.
Senior Energy Executive for the Army, Paul Bollinger, stated that "The Army will continue to leverage new and emerging technologies to ease its dependence on fossil fuels…The Army can and will be a catalyst for greater production and innovation by renewable and alternative energy producers."
