The Alliance for Environmental Innovation is working with FedEx Express to develop a new generation of pick up and delivery trucks by 2005. The project's goal is to have a truck that will work as well as FedEx's current delivery trucks and cost about the same over the vehicle's lifetime. The Future Vehicle Project will invite proposals in early 2001 for an environmentally progressive truck that would reduce emissions by 90% and increase fuel efficiency by 50%.
The Alliance-FedEx project will be conducted in four phases using an aggressive timeline designed to push development of vehicles in advance of regulatory requirements. The first phase is the development of a performance specification for a new truck, followed by a second phase involving development and testing of one or more prototypes.
After prototype analysis, several pre-production trucks will be produced and tested in the third phase. Finally, FedEx aims to begin purchasing full-production level vehicles that meet the project's environmental and business targets.
