FedEx Express said it is “years ahead of schedule” in its goal of making its fleet 20% more fuel efficient by 2020.
The FedEx Corp. unit is now 16.6% more fuel efficient than it was in 2005, and 20% of its diesel pickup-and-delivery fleet already has been converted to cleaner and more efficient vehicles, the company said ealier this month.
“As a result, we are reevaluating our 2020 goal to potentially raise the standard we originally set out to achieve,” Mitch Jackson, staff vice president of environmental affairs and sustainability at FedEx Corp., said in a statement.
FedEx, Memphis, Tenn., said it is purchasing vehicles with “right-sized” engines, including Mercedes Sprinter vans, which are 70% to 100% more fuel-efficient than the trucks they are replacing.
By the end of fiscal 2013, FedEx will have more than 11,000 such vehicles in service, representing more than 35% of its U.S. pickup-and-delivery fleet.
FedEx said it is also adding 114 composite-body trucks, which the company expects to be up to 35% more fuel-efficient than most conventional walk-in vans. The company also is planning to deploy 87 new all-electric trucks in the next few months.
FedEx Corp. is ranked No. 2 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers.
