UPS Places Largest Order for 'Green' Trucks Ever With Daimler Trucks North America (DTNA)

- Milestone for Daimler's world-wide 'Shaping Future Transportation' initiative

- UPS 'Green Fleet' to expand with 200 Hybrid Electric Vehicles and 300 Compressed Natural Gas Vehicles

GAFFNEY, S.C. and STUTTGART, Germany, May 14 -- The largest order of alternative-fuel and drive-train commercial vehicles to-date was placed with DTNA's Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation (FCCC) today by UPS. The order, consisting of 200 hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and 300 compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, is being manufactured on FCCC's walk-in van MT45 and MT55 chassis product line.

These environmental friendly vehicles are part of Daimler's world-wide "Shaping Future Transportation" initiative and will be used by UPS for daily delivery operations across the United States and will function in concert with their current fleet of conventional diesel powertrain vehicles. "This order reflects the proven durability, reliability, and cost benefits of operating DTNA's alternative-fuel vehicles.

The technology is available now to begin to achieve both the environmental and fuel economy goals to meet our customer's operational requirements," according to Mike Stark FCCC Senior Technical Sales Manager of National Accounts.

FCCC is the first manufacturer in the industry to introduce hybrid commercial vehicles into fleet operations, with over 160 HEVs in service since 2004, in addition to over 1,000 CNG-fueled chassis in service since 2000. "Our hybrid vehicles have proven the chassis' durability and reliability, by meeting the rigorous demands of the pick-up and delivery duty cycle. They recently surpassed the two-million in-service mile mark operating in this tough environment," says Jonathan Randall FCCC Director of Sales and Marketing.

The hybrid-electric power train, combined with a diesel engine and electric motor, drive the FCCC chassis to achieve an over 40% improvement in fuel economy and an over 90% reduction in emissions compared to baseline non-hybrid vehicles.

The 200 hybrid electric vehicles will be deployed in 2009 and join the 25 FCCC HEV delivery trucks already in operation at UPS. The 200 trucks are expected to save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,786 tons each year.

Daimler is the global leader on the market for hybrid commercial vehicles, having delivered some 1,500 Orion hybrid buses, more than 160 Freightliner trucks as well as 300 buses and trucks from Fuso.

Added to this are 1,500 Mercedes-Benz trucks and buses as well as over 1,000 FCCC vehicles that run on natural gas.

As a result, Daimler has the world's largest fleet of environmentally-friendly commercial vehicles in use by customers. The "Shaping Future Transportation" initiative was launched to demonstrate Daimler's long-term engagement for sustainable and environmental friendly commercial vehicles technologies.