The announcement made last Friday in Landover, Maryland, enclosed the commitments of five of its charter members:  AT&T, FedEx, PepsiCo, UPS and Verizon. These companies represent five of the nation’s 10 largest national fleets and collectively own and operate more than 275,000 vehicles. Their planned current and near-term petroleum reduction strategies will account for the deployment of over 20,000 advanced technology vehicles. DOE is challenging other companies to join this important effort.

Through the National Clean Fleets Partnership, the Department of Energy will help companies: reduce fuel use through the use of more efficient vehicles and technologies; replace conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles with advanced technology vehicles or ones that use alternative fuels, such as electricity, natural gas, biodiesel, ethanol, hydrogen, or propane.

Last week, Barack Obama also laid out a blueprint for America’s Energy Security by pursuing a broad range of policies in order to reduce oil dependence. “One of the best ways is by making our cars and trucks more energy efficient, because transportation accounts for more than 70 percent of America’s oil consumption”, he highlighted.