Image Source: Wired.com

Fed-Ex has recently found a way to reduce their carbon footprint with the new use of trucks that have been outfitted with four electric engines coupled with a diesel powered turbine. Something about using electric engines tends to turn people off from time to time, but this new technology is quite impressive and actually incorporates a diesel application.

FedEx, working with Wrightspeed, are taking 25 trucks on a pilot program.  They are taking those trucks and emptying them of their gas powered parts and then fitting electric motors to each drive wheel along with a battery. That system alone is capable of driving 30 miles on a single charge.  However, to juice the batteries they drop in a diesel-powered turbine. Now, instead of the diesel engine powering the truck and helping the truck to accelerate and move through gears, the engine can now be set at a “sweet spot” RPM allowing the engine to run at its optimum efficiency point and is used to only power the batteries.

Imagine being at a stoplight and when the light goes green you hit the gas pedal, but yet the RPM’s of the engine doesn’t change.  When engines can run at their peak efficiency point all the time instead of trying to push out more horsepower they, of course, have less wear and tear and use less fuel. With how much stop and go a FedEx truck does in a day, this could end up saving millions.

This technology is, as of right now, too expensive for your everyday car on the road, but for a company that sends out 4 million packages a day using 47,000 trucks this is just the ticket to reducing maintenance costs and increasing their fuel savings. The test of 25 trucks might seem like a small chunk, but you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time.

So now we leave it up to you the reader, how does this technology make you feel? If this technology was more affordable would you consider it for your daily driver? Leave us a comment below with your opinion on the matter.