Coca-Cola To Start Using Hybrid Trucks

While other companies are shying away from the considerable costs involved, Coca-Cola announced Monday it is rolling out 10 heavy-duty hybrid trucks in South Florida, part of a national campaign to put 142 of these so-called green trucks on the road in North America in the next several weeks.

Many companies -- from utilities to architectural firms -- are rushing to jump on the green bandwagon, and the soft-drink industry is no exception.

Coke's new trucks are estimated to lower fuel consumption by 37 percent and emissions by 32 percent -- solid figures to impress the growing number of people who are demanding a reduction in greenhouse gases.

But heavy-duty hybrid trucks aren't cheap. Coca-Cola estimates the special engines add about $35,000 to the cost, making the total about $85,000 per truck.

Particularly in tough economic times, that's a lot for a company to absorb.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[ramal]

We are supposed to be impressed by this? What next Phillip Morris announcing biodegradeable ciggy packages? The world somehow managed to do just fine up until the mass production of sugar water a litle over a hundred years ago. Perhaps we should return to such a primitive state.

[thegreatgiginthesky]

Invent an engine that runs on coca cola.

[wm1066]

When will Coke go back to using sugar (aside from a few cans during passover) instead of corn syrup? I bet they could get sugar cheaper these days than corn.

[KillTheMessenger]

It tastes different. They would loose all the "on their way to diabetics youth" who got used to the taste of corn syrup.

:-)

[KillTheMessenger]

142 trucks out of how many ten thousand? Well, that's just got to solve the problem. Especially since these wonders of technology are a full 35% more efficient... amazing. The world is safe now.

[jvarga]

Yeah screw them for doing anything. How dare they not solve all the worlds problems instantly. In other news, I've stopped recycling and conserving because why bother, I can't personally fix the climate.

[KillTheMessenger]

Yeah, screw me for telling a green washing campaign apart from real action. I conserve, recycle and take the bus/train, by the way. And we have a Prius. Why? Because what I do matters. I am pulling all the stops I can at home and a work that I have control over, right now. What the Coca-Cola company does is changing 0.03% of their system and call it a giant step for mankind.

Sorry. Not buying.

[MajorKong]

Nobody replaces their whole fleet in one fell swoop. The new vehicles will probably be phased in as the old ones wear out. You have to start somewhere.

[KillTheMessenger]

Actually, when these companies replace their fleets, they sign contracts over billions of dollars and thousands of vehicles a year. Did you see that happening here? I haven't. Let me know when they start doing something that actually shows up in their annual budget.

[Checquoline]

I suppose it is a start but now they need to take the high fructose corn syrup out of the drinks and use natural sugar. Let's save the people as well as gas.

[LiberalBuzz]

As you said, it's a start, so that that's something. Don't drink the stuff so I can't say what they should mix it with.

[VoLintheVille]

I just read the full article from the Herald and got my answer, sorry to "choke" the Comments sections.

[VoLintheVille]

Correction and yes I do agree, the hybrid could indeed be natural gas.

[VoLintheVille]

While HuffPost has offered an interesting article (via the Miami Herald), it would also be nice to know what type of hybrid? The author took the time to find the cost of the "special engine" but it would have been nice to know what type of hybrid as well. Was it electric, fuel cell, hydraulic, pneumatic? I would guess hydraulic.

[Triangle1]

It makes for a nice PR campaign. Of course, this won't affect the country's gas use at all. I wonder how many hundreds of trucks they have on the road that AREN'T "hybrids."

[Erdgeist]

Natural gas is cheap to use--and the money stays in the U.S. In the Atlanta area, the home of Coca-Cola, natural gas is about 2.01 a gallon.

[gretchenart]

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