2Sustain

New research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) shows that electric vehicles are not just environmentally friendly; they also have the potential to improve the bottom line for many kinds of businesses.

Granted, the up-front costs of electric vehicles can be significant. A company looking to purchase an electric-powered delivery truck today will likely have to shell out nearly $150,000 –compared to about $50,000 for the same kind of truck with a standard internal-combustion engine.

But, the researchers at MIT’s Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL) found that electric vehicles used to make deliveries on an everyday basis in big cities can cost 9 to 12 percent less to operate than trucks powered by diesel engines. What’s more, as battery costs continue to drop, the business case for electric vehicles will only get better, according to Jarrod Goentzel, director of the Renewable Energy Delivery Project at CTL and one of four co-authors of the new study.

The CTL study was conducted using data collected by the international office supplier Staples, as well as ISO New England, the nonprofit firm that runs New England’s electric power grid.

Using that data, the researchers modeled the costs for a fleet of 250 delivery trucks, and they examined alternate scenarios in which the whole fleet used one of three kinds of motors: purely electric engines, hybrid gas-electric engines and conventional diesel engines.

The researchers analyzed outcomes if the trucks in the fleet were driven 70 miles a day for 253 work days per year, with diesel gasoline costing $4 per gallon. They found that: (more…)

The logistics sector is an increasingly significant contributor to the global economy –and it’s also an increasingly significant consumer of fossil fuels.

To me, that indicates that logistics companies are facing considerable sustainability-related risks. Are there steps these companies can take to mitigate these risks while enhancing their competitiveness in today’s increasingly complex global business environment?

A new report from RBC and Supply Chain & Logistics Association Canada (SCL) takes a detailed look at that question and ultimately, concludes that environmental sustainability should be considered both a key issue and an important opportunity for Canada’s transportation and logistics companies.

According to the report, CEOs in the logistics sector need to grapple with five specific environmental challenges: (more…)

Late last month, UPS released the latest edition of its annual sustainability report, and once again, the company has managed to reduce the amount of fuel it’s using to deliver each package in the United States.

Interestingly, the company’s US package volume rose 1.8 percent in 2010 compared to 2009, and yet UPS reduced the amount of fuel consumed per package by 3.3 percent. The company attributed the improvement to:

• deploying the right vehicle on the right routes,
• using technology to minimize the miles driven and
• focusing on how behavior can affect fuel use.

All told, technology has enabled UPS to avoid driving more than 63.5 million miles in 2010 with an associated emissions avoidance of 68,000 metric tonnes. As remarkable as it sounds, UPS estimates that distance is the equivalent of 251,987 trips to the International Space Station.

How, exactly, has the company used technology to reduce fuel consumption? According to a press release, UPS has specifically improved: (more…)

Oil prices were volatile again last week, topping off at about $100 a barrel, and now there’s another new wrinkle that has traders and analysts scratching their heads: futures contracts for light, sweet crude and Brent crude differ by nearly $20 –an unprecedented gap for these contracts, which typically trade within $1 of each other.

Naturally, as consumers, we’re all feeling the pinch of rising gas prices every time we fill up at the pump.

But, what about the ripple effect of $100/barrel gasoline? How much do rising gas prices—and the tremendous volatility in the oil markets –affect everything else we buy?

As Michael Koploy rightly points out at his recent blog post, Gas Stats: How Rising Fuel Prices Affect Logistics, soaring energy prices impact other commodities, such as minerals, food, and consumer goods –even though this effect doesn’t typically get the press it deserves.

Koploy illustrates the direct correlation between the rise in energy prices and the (sometimes dramatic) increases in commodity prices with this infographic, revealing the trickle-down effect of rising gas prices, January 2010 vs. January 2011: (more…)

Last week, UPS –a company that has already proven itself a leader in alternative-powered vehicles –announced that it has launched yet another project, this time in partnership with Electric Vehicles International (EVI).

The 90-day trial will allow UPS to test EVI’s walk-in electric vans (WI) in three separate locations: Sacramento, San Francisco and Reno.

EVI has fitted the vans with Lithium-Ion batteries. These batteries provide an operating range of 90 miles (144 km) and a top speed of 60 mph (96 km/h). They typically take three to ten hours to recharge. (more…)