(May 10, 2012) PLANO, Texas — The all-electric trucks introduced by PepsiCo's Frito-Lay North America division have charged their way to a million miles this month. Over the past two years, 176 all-electric trucks by Smith Electric Vehicles have been added to the Frito-Lay commercial delivery truck fleet.  To date, these trucks have eliminated the need for approximately 200,000 gallons of diesel fuel.

Frito-Lay and its parent company PepsiCo have a long-running commitment to environmental sustainability. With the seventh largest privately owned fleet in the U.S. — made up of more than 20,000 trucks — Frito-Lay has set ambitious goals to reduce greenhouse gases and fuel consumption, both by 50 percent, by 2020.

To minimize the fleet's environmental impact, several types of vehicles have been introduced to meet the different needs of the Frito-Lay fleet. The all-electric trucks are delivery trucks used on urban routes with fewer daily miles.

Frito-Lay also announced it will purchase 100 Newton Series 2,000 all-electric commercial vehicles in 2012 from Smith Electric Vehicles, bringing the total number of its electric fleet to more than 280.

"The first million miles with the electric trucks have been a journey of understanding and refining both how and where we use these vehicles, as well as providing input to help improve upon the performance for the next generation vehicle," said Mike O'Connell, senior director of fleet capability for Frito-Lay North America. "We are now in position to more quickly accelerate our strategy and grow the electric vehicle fleet."

With all electric trucks fully deployed on routes, Frito-Lay expects to reduce their fuel consumption by 500,000 gallons a year.  The trucks generate zero tailpipe emissions. Electric trucks reduce fuel consumption, noise pollution and vehicle CO2 emissions, compared to traditional delivery trucks.

"As we push to make Frito-Lay's fleet the most fuel efficient commercial fleet in the U.S., we need to continue to build on our current strategy and look for options to address other types of trucks in the fleet, one of which will be compressed natural gas for our tractor fleet," continued O'Connell.

Compressed natural gas (CNG) tractors will be introduced this spring, and will be used to haul large loads. Each CNG vehicle, purchased from Freightliner, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 23 percent, compared to diesel.