Article published - Nov 13, 2007
BROWN THINKS GREEN

By NATHAN HALVERSON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

 It's not exactly a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.

But the small electric cars UPS will use in Sonoma County and the South Bay to deliver packages to homes this holiday season are probably just as quiet -- not to mention eco-friendly.

The UPS distribution center in Petaluma will lease 40 electric vehicles about the size of golf carts from Santa Rosa-based Zap to deliver packages.

The pilot program is aimed at reducing gas and maintenance costs for UPS during the busy holiday season, when home deliveries nearly double.

For Zap, which sells hybrid and electric cars made mostly in China, the one-time deal represents an enormous business prospect.

UPS, the world's largest deliverer of packages, is experimenting with the more eco-friendly distribution model to see if it can save money during a time when gas prices have soared.

UPS will drop off a trailer full of packages to a given neighborhood. From there, employees will use the electric cars to distribute the packages to nearby homes.

"The math works for us to do this," said Mike Yates, business manager of the Petaluma distribution center. "It makes perfect sense."

Instead of using more of the company's large brown trucks that get about 10 miles per gallon, UPS will gear up for the busy season by using the electric vehicles that cost only 4 cents a mile to operate, Yates said.

"As far as we know, this has never been done before," Yates said.

The vehicles, which have a small pickup bed to haul packages, are powered by batteries that plug into a wall outlet to recharge. The cars have a range of about 100 miles and a top speed of 40 mph.

For the past two years, UPS experimented in Sonoma County with gas-powered golf carts.

"With the golf carts, I saved money," Yates said. "The Zap cars blow the golf carts away."

Zap's vehicles are street legal, enclosed and have a heater and windshield wipers. Employees who are being trained to use the vehicles agree the electric cars are a vast improvement.

"It's night and day," said UPS supervisor Dale Miller, who has been training Petaluma-based employees.

Michelle Nevin is one employee who will be zipping around delivering packages from an electric car. She'll park the car at her home at night, and drive to nearby distribution trailers during the day.

Nevin usually loads trucks during the weekdays. But during the busy holiday season, when more people are sending packages and ordering items on-line, Nevin transitions to delivering packages full time. She's excited to be doing it from an electric car this year.

"It's way easier," she said. "Sometimes you'll have to make 8 or 12 stops on one block during the holidays. It's just boom, boom, boom, in and out."

After the holiday season, UPS will return the vehicles to Zap and evaluate how the pilot program worked, Yates said.

UPS will deploy the electric cars in Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Sonoma, Sebastopol, Rohnert Park, Novato and in the San Jose area.

The project is an enormous prospect for Zap, which tripled its sales in 2006 to $10.8 million. Although it still racked up $11.9 million in losses, following $23.5 million in losses in 2005.

"For us to get a deal with UPS, it's the biggest customer we ever had. It's breaking new ground for us," said spokesman Alex Campbell.