LONG BEACH, CA. Once described as brown on the outside and green on the inside, UPS delivery vans and the rest of company’s 300,000 vehicles have made great progress in moving to cleaner alternative fuels over the last decade. “But for all that progress, we still have unfinished business to attend to and we have to move even faster than we have in the past,” according to Carlton Rose, president of global fleet maintenance and engineering for UPS.
Delivering the keynote address at the Advanced Clean Transportation Expo, Rose said UPS currently has 6,800 vehicles running on alternative power sources that include CNG, LNG, propane, electric and hydraulic hybrid combinations, and batteries. “We expect to hit the one-billion-mile mark [with those alternative fuel vehicles] by the end of next year,” he said.
Urging the truck operators at ACT Expo to “embrace creating a cleaner, healthier world with creativity and urgency,” Rose pointed to the concept of shared value. “The needs of business and society are the same,” he said. “One supports the other, one needs the other, and neither thrives unless both do.”
Government also needs to do its part to help speed up the transition to cleaner transportation, according to Rose. “Collaboration is the only way we can get to where we need to go,” he said. “Policy and progress go hand in hand. Without incentives and other government support, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today, but industry still need much more help.”
And while fleets might chaff at clean air and emissions regulations, they should also recognize “that innovation comes from reaction to these regulations,” Rose said. “We in the transportation industry just need to stay informed and to stay ahead of any regulatory change.”
To find out about his thoughts on various alternative technologies and their place in transportation's future, see the complete coverage of Rose's address on FleetOwner.com.
