Clean Energy to Supply UPS with LNG

As the prices for diesel and petrol keep rising, major fleet operators in the US are doing their best to find an alternative to them. The most handy of them all, liquid-natural gas, seems to be the best choice for at least one such operator, delivery company UPS.

Fresh out of ideas on how to cut costs, UPS decided to buy a fleet of 48 LNG-powered trucks a while back. Until now, however, it had no partner to help it fuel those trucks. After signing the deal today, Clean Energy, one of the major players on the alternative fuel market, will become the main supplier of LNG to UPS.

“Investment in a fuel-efficient technology that helps reduce our carbon footprint and reduce our dependence on petroleum remains a key component of UPS’s transport strategy,” Mike Britt, director of Vehicle Engineering at UPS, explains the reasons why UPS went for this type of trucks.

“For our heavy-duty vehicles, LNG has proved successful in reducing emissions, keeping our maintenance and operating costs low, and significantly reducing our dependence on petroleum for these shipping lanes.”

The LNG trucks will be used by UPS on the routes in between Las Vegas and Ontario, California, starting the second half of the year. When fully operational, the trucks are expected to require 1.2 million gallons each year. Most of those gallons will come from a new LNG station that Clean Energy will be installing in the Southwest corridor.

“This UPS station project is a major step toward realizing our goal to create a Southwest LNG truck fueling corridor that will extend along major truck transport routes from San Diego to Salt Lake City,” added James Harger, Clean Energy marketing manager.