Frito-Lay, a large company with an equally large fleet, makes the switch to alternative fuel in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and conserve fuel. After switching to electric and propane powered vehicles through the largest among the U.S. Department of Energy’s nearly 100 Clean Cities coalitions, Clean Fuels Ohio, they have dramatically improved their carbon footprint.
Fleet efficiency is critical to a national convenient foods producer like Frito-Lay. The company and its parent PepsiCo, have committed to an aggressive plan to conserve fuel and reduce emissions of its delivery trucks and sales cars.
That effort has had a positive impact in Ohio, as the Frito-Lay fleet of 45 propane-powered Ford E350 vans and five electric Newton delivery trucks have changed attitudes about the impact of alternative-fueled vehicles on fleet sustainability. The vehicles have turned heads across the state – among employees, customers and the public.
“In 2007, Frito-Lay and PepsiCo began a concerted, nationwide effort to reduce emissions and conserve fuel,” said Glenn Reynolds, fleet manager for the company’s Mid America region (comprising Ohio, Michigan and eastern Indiana). The company is working towards achieving a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2017 through its sales and delivery fleet vehicles. Reynolds was intimately involved with testing out and selecting the vehicles and fueling stations that would be located throughout Ohio.
In the course of this testing, Frito-Lay was approached by Clean Fuels Ohio and the Clean Cities program of the U.S. Department of Energy and possible grant funding. “The support and assistance of Clean Fuels Ohio and Clean Cities has really helped to take this effort very seriously,” Reynolds said. “They were also able to introduce us to some options we hadn’t considered up to this point.”
Frito-Lay worked closely with its partners:
• Ford Motor Company to convert E350 vans for propane use.
• Ford on warranty programs, and provided complete training for their technicians.
• Roush Clean Tech to refit the vans.
• Smith Electric to secure 15 all-electric Newton delivery vehicles. Of that quantity, five 80,000 kilowatt trucks are being used in the Columbus region.
• Ferrell Gas, to establish propane fueling stations that service the distribution centers around the state
• Looking at clean diesel Sprinter vans for applications nationwide.
• Investigate other technologies, including smart road technology, GPS integration and cell connectivity.
Since 2007, Frito-Lay has dramatically improved its carbon footprint.
All of the company’s fleet sales cars are hybrids today, and more than 200 electric vehicles are currently in use. In Ohio, implementation of the company’s alternative fuel vehicles has gone well, and the response has been positive.
“When we first visited customers with the electric delivery trucks, we saw a good bit of pessimism,” Reynolds said. “Over time, they began to engage us in conversation about how the trucks worked, and we even had materials we used to explain what we and Frito-Lay as a company were doing. Internally, we had some adjustments going from the operation of gasoline-fueled vehicles to propane and electric vehicles. But acceptance is high now.”
For more information visit CleanFuelsOhio.
