UPS picks up hybrid trucks

The United Parcel Service (UPS), the world’s largest package-delivery company, plans to add 200 hybrid gas-electric delivery trucks to its routes in eight major U.S. cities over the next year to lessen the company’s environmental impact, according to the Environmental News Network.

The trucks will allow UPS to cut back on fuel consumption by 176,000 gallons annually, as well as reduce the amount of carbon-dioxide emissions.

UPS’s switch to hybrid exemplifies the growing trend toward low-emissions vehicles, which was recently highlighted in a Pike Research report. The report estimates that annual hybrid-truck sales in the U.S. will skyrocket from today’s 3,700 to nearly 30,000 by the year 2015—equivalent to 10 percent of the nation’s vehicle market.

The trucks will be distributed throughout Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, D.C., New York City, Minneapolis, Louisville, Ky., and Austin and Houston, Texas.