FedEx CEO: "Addiction" to Foreign Oil is Costing the Economy, American Lives

Oh forgot to mention the 1.5 million figure was posted by puget sound energy which only services about 22% here and does not include any major metropolitan area here. Seattle, tacoma etc all have their own PUD and no doubt have extra capacity as well.

Keep in mind the figure was based on 2007 numbers. Since then we have added a ton of wind power as well.

Remember in another thread there is reports of possibily shutting down wind due to excess power that has no place to go in oregon....

 

Don't hate on the drivers. They have limited time to make deliveries on time. Fedex charges extra for delivery before 10.30am and most packages have a deadline of before 5pm. You can send a package at 4.55pm on west coast and have it delivered before 10am on east coast. Trust me someone is in hurry to get it done.

Think about dealing with traffic, dogs and customers all day. No wonder they are in a hurry. They are hourly employees. More time they use more they get paid.

Propane hybrid seeems like a good solution for these companies. Blame GM/Toyota/Ford for not making a real option for fedex.

Prius is THE hybrid. Honda system is so buggy that most people are better off with a regular civic instead of dealing with IMA software and battery issues.

Someday toyota will make a hybrid delivery trucks that companies can lease and save from day one. Fedex does not have the cash to buy a whole new fleet upfront even though it might save them a lot. Auto makers have to make deals so companies can replace fleet and save from day one.

I personally bought the prius because it saves me enough money to pay half my payment. I asked myself do i want to drive a 22k car or do i want to drive a 15k with same net cost per month. 22k car keeps getting cheaper as gas goes up.

Most prius cab drivers save more money per month than what they pay for the car. Hence prius cabs are showing up all over.

Fedex & UPS will move the day they get a smilar options. CEO is just the executive officer. He has to sell this to the board and stock holders.

 

Leaf is nice but its not as versitle as prius. Prius was a real game changer. It made people like me switch. Prius is the car that can replace camry and accord. Leaf is uber cool but very limited by range. You almost need a second car which negates any savings.

 

Agree with gwalia. I also ran the numbers and I could have driven a Prius or a Corolla for about the same cost--that was when gas was $3 or so when I bought it. I decided I'd rather a 22k car than a Corolla. And now with gas at $4 we are saving so much in gas from our previous 20 mpg family vehicle that it covers the substantial majority of the lease payment. So basically almost "free" vs our old vehicle, and yet we have a new one with no repairs, no concerns about it causing issues for us. We save almost 50 gallons/month in gas on a $231 lease payment (18k/year). Now it's cheaper than if we had gotten a corolla.

 

i need clarification on this statement. are you a single car household? because that is the only way what you said would make any sense at all.

i have both a Prius and a Leaf. the Leaf is the primary transportation car and we only use the Prius when we have to which is often but only because there are two of us.

for times that we are together, we have yet to park the Leaf. now that will change as the weather does. have a trip to Eastern WA for a family reunion and will be taking the Prius, but for the most part, the Leaf covers most of what we need.

now, i would never have done it if i did not have another car, but if you have 2 and you think you cant save money (which is the least most important reason to get a Leaf btw) then you are sooooo dead wrong.

right now, i average just under 1200 miles a month on the Leaf, at its very basic, i am saving 5 cents per mile. this ignores other savings in maintenance costs. now this is if gas is at $3.90 a gallon and it looks like that price might stabilize and the savings will be reduced when gas gets back down to the low to mid 3's this fall.

now that is about $700 a year. so lets look at what this car costs

well, it was in the neighborhood of $34,574.90 approximately. i did get a discount that you will probably not be able to get but anyway.

if we take into consideration the $7500 fed tax credit and the WA State sales tax waiver (other states have much better incentives) which is essentially another $3000 off, my Leaf is about the same upfront costs as any other $24,000 car....

but,

if i own my Leaf for 3 years, i will have saved around $2000 or so in gas costs alone (along with several trees, lungs, etc)

but have i really? well, like i said i will ignore the cost of oil/filters for my Prius. but what about that $3.90 gas? well, most of it comes from foreign oil (about 70% or so) and that has to be bought with borrowed money, so now that gas is $3.90 a gallon plus interest and the interest is not good... but then again, that is not the here and now expense most of us look at.

its funny how people judge whether or not they got a good deal on their car by the amount of their car payment. its funny, but every one i talk to who are foolish enough to try to justify what they drive to me.... but anyway...

 

It's true, but they have two things going for them:
- They're selling many of those "trucks" on utility.
- They can't get any worse.

They have until the next cycle, but it's going to be tough.

 

I am wondering why this CEO is out peddling EV's. I now see he is a member of the Electrification Coalition. Sheesh I did not even know there was a Electrification Coalition. Checking the website, I can see why some of the coalition companies are pushing EV (NRG, etc) but I am not sure why FedEx would take this stand. The only thing I really agree with the FedEx CEO, is I do not see how we can address future issues without gov't intervention. I wish someone would write a balanced Wikipedia artcile about this Coalition so I could understand the good and bad of it. Anyways the coalition is open for donations (not for me).