Brown to Turn Green : UPS to Use Hydrogen Fuel Cells on Trucks

ATLANTA GA August 27, 2004; The AP reported that United Parcel Service will begin using three large package delivery vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells, and officials said the goal is to someday apply the technology throughout its entire fleet.

The Dodge Sprinter trucks are being deployed in Ann Arbor, Mich., and two California locations: Los Angeles and Sacramento, UPS senior vice president of global transportation services said Thursday.

"Shifting away from a fossil-fuel based economy to a hydrogen economy would be a great environmental and technological achievement," Mahoney said at a Los Angeles news conference, where he was joined by representatives from DaimlerChrysler, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and the state of California.

Atlanta-based UPS was encouraged by results of tests on vehicles using hydrogen fuel cells.

Starting in March, DaimlerChrysler provided an "F-Cell," a fuel cell-powered Mercedes-Benz A-Class car, which UPS modified for early morning package deliveries in southeastern Michigan. The car is fueled daily at the EPA's hydrogen fueling station at its National Emissions Testing Laboratory in Ann Arbor.

"UPS now is jumping from a small fuel cell car to a medium-duty truck. We will continue the rapid application of this technology in hopes that in the near future, we can deploy zero-emission engines across our fleet of 88,000 vehicles," he said