FedEx Hybrid Electric Delivery Truck Evaluations

Photo of FedEx Express hybrid delivery truck.

FedEx Express operates hybrid electric delivery trucks to reduce fuel use in its fleet.
Photo by Jon Burton, NREL

NREL has conducted two performance evaluations comparing hybrid electric and conventional trucks operating in the FedEx Express fleet.

The in-service portion of these evaluations included collecting and analyzing fuel economy, maintenance, and other on-road vehicle performance data. The in-lab portion involved dynamometer evaluation at NREL's Renewable Fuels and Lubricants Laboratory to determine the fuel economy and emissions impact of hybridization.

Hybrid Electric Straight Box Trucks

In 2013, the team completed its six-month evaluation of six hybrid electric trucks and six conventional diesel trucks operated by FedEx Express in Ontario, California. Compared to the conventional trucks, the hybrids demonstrated higher fuel economy by 12% to 17% over a variety of routes in the field. During dynamometer evaluation, however, the fuel economy benefits of hybridization ranged from 4% to 45% (depending on the drive cycle), which indicates that greater fuel economy benefits could be realized with optimized route selection. Dynamometer evaluation also showed that the hybrids generally emitted higher levels of nitric oxides. For more information, refer to this conference paper In-Use and Vehicle Dynamometer Evaluation and Comparison of Class 7 Hybrid Electric and Conventional Diesel Delivery Trucks.

Gasoline Hybrid Electric Parcel Delivery Trucks

In 2010, the team completed its year-long evaluation of three gasoline hybrid electric (gHEV) trucks and three conventional diesel trucks operated by FedEx Express in the Los Angeles area. Compared to the conventional trucks, the gHEV trucks demonstrated substantially reduced tailpipe emissions and similar fuel economy except during the highest intensity drive cycle when the gHEVs exhibited about 20% higher fuel economy.

Publications

The following documents provide detailed information about this study.