For Today: UPS doubling clean fleet and fuel, California funding more hydrogen stations

UPS expanding clean fleet and fuel:  UPS will be nearly doubling the presence of green vehicles in its delivery fleet, and will double the volume of ground fuel coming from alternative fuel sources. By 2020, 25% of its vehicles will be powered by alternative fuels or advanced vehicle technology, up from 16% last year from a ground vehicle fleet of about 114,000 vehicles overall. Green vehicles include electric, hybrid, hydraulic hybrid, or those that run on compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and propane autogas. The company will be getting 40% of its ground fuel from sources other than conventional gasoline and diesel by 2024, doubling the 19.6% from 2016. The delivery company has a few trial projects in the works. As revealed at ACT Expo 2017, the company received the first of 17 hydrogen fuel cell vans that UPS will deploy by the end of 2018.

Chrysler Pacifica recall:  Chrysler has recalled about 1,700 of its new Pacifica plug-in hybrid minivans. The automaker is concerned about a potentially faulty diode within the power inverter module. That defect could make the inverter stop function, which would then go to a powertrain shutdown. The risk of a crash would go up, but the automaker said there haven’t been any crashes or injuries related to the recall issue. Deliveries of Chrysler Pacifica began in early April; recall alerts will start to be sent out on July 24, with replacement of the faulty part being carried out.

CEC funding more hydrogen stations:  The California Energy Commission awarded more than $17 million in grants to grow the state’s hydrogen refueling network. Nine new hydrogen fueling stations that will expand the infrastructure network were approved. FirstElement Fuel will develop eight hydrogen stations. Five will be in Southern California in Huntington Beach, Irvine, San Diego, Santa Monica, and Sherman Oaks. The remaining three will be in the Bay Area in Campbell, Oakland, and Sunnyvale. Air Liquide also received funds for a hydrogen refueling station in Santa Nella that will help connect Southern California and Bay Area hydrogen stations. The U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Alternative Fuel Station Locator map shows 36 hydrogen stations currently open in the U.S., with 33 of them in California.