FedEx's Hybrid Program Hits Snags
As of today, FedEx has only 172 hybrid trucks on the road. High price premium, lack of tax credits to blame.
FedEx has not reached its goals so far in implementing hybrid trucks into its fleet, Fast Company reports. FedEx reported in 2003, at the launch of the hybrid program, that hybrids could replace the company’s 30,000 medium-duty gas-powered trucks over the next 10 years.
As of today it has 172 hybrid trucks on the road, according to the report.Mitch Jackson, FedEx's director of environmental affairs and sustainability, says he was hoping that other companies would place orders for test vehicles. That hasn’t happened, primarily due to the price premium. The premium on the Mercedes/Eaton Corp. hybrid engine for FedEx is 75 percent.
Also, FedEx was counting on commercial-hybrid-truck tax credits that were part of the 2005 energy bill, but the IRS never put them into place.
Jackson told Fast Company that at present the FedEx hybrids don't pay for themselves, even spread over the 12-year life of a truck and with gas prices sky high.
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