FedEx takes electric vehicle down Route 66

The electric FedEx truck.

FedEx has decided to demonstrate its new all-electric urban delivery van with stops along Route 66 from Monday through April 6. It’s part of the “Charge Up Route 66” tour.

The tour is planning stops  in St. Louis, Joplin, Oklahoma City, Amarillo and Albuquerque, in addition to the Mother Road’s bookend cities of Los Angeles and Chicago.

From the tour’s “About” page:

[T]he “Charge Up Route 66″ tour underscores a national initiative advocated by FedEx CEO Fred Smith to create a comprehensive program of affordable electrification of local transportation.  It’s goals: stimulate more homegrown energy production, reduce America’s reliance on imported petroleum, and cut our greenhouse gas emissions. […]

Follow our blogs here as we motor west … more than two thousand miles all the way.  We’re sharing pictures and video of surviving roadside icons from the Route 66 era, highlighting the efforts to preserve the spirit of the road and discussing the potential for an electric future on American streets and roads.

You can follow the tour’s progress with this map here. Here are photos and blog posts from the road.

Below is a screen capture from the “Charge Up Route 66” Web site:

According to FedEx, the vehicle can go 100 miles on a single charge and boasts a payload of 3,000 pounds. FedEx also plans to build a series of solar stations to charge up the vehicles.

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