Verizon Replaces 234 Gasoline-Powered Vans In New York City Fleet With Hybrids

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

Verizon has now replaced 234 gasoline-powered vans in its New York City service fleet with hybrid-electric vans, making use of the New York Truck Voucher Incentive Program to do so.

To be more exact, Verizon has replaced the earlier vans with Chevy Express 2500 models outfitted with XL Hybrids’ XL3 hybrid-electric system, which utilizes a simple regenerative braking + battery system to greatly reduce the need for the gasoline/petrol engine to run in most conditions, thereby greatly reducing running/operating costs.

Importantly, the XL Hybrids installations leaves the Chevy warranty completely intact — as the engine, the fuel system, the transmission, and the exhaust system remain untouched.

Something notable here is that the new fleet transition represents the largest use of New York State’s Truck Voucher Incentive Program to date. The program, for those unfamiliar with it, is part of the state governor’s plan to slash local greenhouse gas emissions by 40% (as compared to 1990 levels) by 2030.

Verizon, it should also be noted, is currently pursuing a goal of rescuing its operational carbon intensity by 50% over the next 10 years or so.

“Given the size of our company and the number of people we connect across the globe, Verizon has a unique opportunity and responsibility to have a positive impact on the environment,” stated James Gowen, the chief sustainability officer for Verizon. “We’ve deployed more than 24 megawatts (MW) of green energy capacity in the last 5 years, with plans to deploy 24 MW more by 2025. And with the addition of these hybrid vehicles, our fleet is as efficient as ever as we continue to use less fuel year after year. We thank NYSERDA (New York State Energy Research and Development Authority) for their partnership in helping to make this happen.”

To provide further background on the Truck Voucher Incentive Program here, the New York incentives program offers point-of-sale rebates to municipalities and companies purchasing low- or no-emissions vehicles or retrofitting existing vehicles for the same purpose. Hybrids, all-electrics, and natural gas vehicles all qualify for the program. To date, around 600 rebates have been granted throughout New York — not that many.


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

James Ayre has 4830 posts and counting. See all posts by James Ayre