Coca-Cola Enterprises, the largest bottler of Coca Cola beverages, will more than double the size of its hybrid electric delivery fleet to about 327 green truck on U.S. and Canadian roads. The company plans to add 185 hybrid electric trucks and is also launching a new vehicle that is much larger than those in its existing fleet.
The majority of the hybrid vehicles currently in its fleet are 12-bay box trucks with a 33,000 gross vehicle weight. With a gross combination vehicle weight of 55,000, the new hybrid electric tractors are comparable to standard bulk delivery trucks used by the company. Coca-Cola Enterprises said that the jumbo hybrids use 30 percent less fuel and produce about 30 percent fewer emissions than standard tractors. The tractors were developed by the Eaton Corporation, Kenworth Truck Company and Cummins Engine Company.
Coca-Cola commenced development of its green fleet in 2001, with its first order in 2007 for 20 hybrids with Eaton power systems. By the end of last year the firm had 142 vehicles, which were put to work in Atlanta, Baltimore, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington, DC.
Under the expansion plan, large new hybrid tractors will roll out in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, Tampa, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington, DC. New 12-bay trucks are to be sent to Albuquerque, Columbus, Jacksonville, Las Vegas and Montreal. Coca Cola Enterprises has taken a bold, but necessary step towards sustainability and clean technology.
Photo credit: Coca Cola Enterprises
Maria Surma Manka
Minneapolis-St. Paul saw 10 of these hybrid trucks rollout last summer too. The trucks are the largest hybrid electric delivery trucks in North America.
DK
sorry, they can’t call themselves green so as long as they’re substituting environmentally unfriendly high fructose corn syrup for real sugar..
Ben
Totally agree with DK. Michael Pollan, author of “In Defense of Food” and “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” has nicknamed corn “the SUV of food crops” because of the intense amounts of water and nutrients it requires to cultivate.
Thomas Crocs
I think that examples like this Green Delivery Fleet are extremly important, because they show that the technique has gained the maturity for every-day business.
Brian
DK, I hear you on corn syrup. I don’t like it either. But when I hear Ben’s reason for why its evil – water use – I wonder how you guys think “real sugar” is produced?
Sugar companies have destroyed huge areas of the south, at one time diverting almost all the water from going into the Everglades. And if you can picture huge combine tractors rolling through the midwest’s mono-crop landscape, imagine if you needed a machine to do that and roll through a swamp. There’s a reason why “real sugar” is more expensive.
I don’t know the details, but it seems as if CocaCola Enterprises is run as a separate company, distributing. So it makes sense for them to use hybrids. They are prob to be commended.
The bottler needs to make larger steps too. This is where the ingredient sourcing comes into play. Corn is cheap, subsidized by taxpayers. Sugar could be cheaper from other countries, but there are tariffs. Water use is abusive here and abroad. These are some tough tough challenges. I hope you have some answers instead of just criticism.