Eco-Friendly Vehicles Coca Cola Estar

Eco-Friendly Vehicles

Coca Cola eStar Zero Emission Electronic Truck

The New Coke (System of Delivery)

When you hear the word 'Coca-Cola,' very likely the first color that springs to mind is red, not green, in testimony to the iconic bottler's label. Coca-Cola hopes that may change. Coca-Cola has introduced a new fleet of environmentally-friendly vehicles to distribute its product. In September, it introduced six eStar ™ all-electric, zero-emission trucks to its alternative fuel vehicles (AFV) that drive throughout North America. Each truck can run up to 100 miles on a single charge and a battery can be fully recharged in six to eight hours. "A quick-change cassette-type battery can be swapped out in 20 minutes, enabling around-the-clock operations and aligning the vehicles as an absolute alternative to fossil-fuel urban delivery trucks" (Coca-Cola® leads the charge toward greener fleets, 2011, Coca-Cola).

As well as helping preserve the environment, the trucks will also result in fuel savings for the company, up to 60% per vehicle. Even trucks that are not fully hybridized (most trucks are concentrated in major metropolitan areas) are propelled by drivers trained in the company's Smartdriver program, which teaches fuel-saving techniques like minimal braking and early gear changes, and are propelled by light-duty propane and natural gas options . A total of 750 AVDs will make up the Coca-Cola fleet by the end of the year, which is currently the largest heavy-duty hybrid electric delivery system in the nation. The Department of Energy, thanks to efforts such as these, recently recognized Coca-Cola as a partner in its National Clean Fleets Partnership Program (Coca-Cola® leads the charge toward greener fleets, 2011, Coca-Cola).

Coca-Cola has a company-wide program designed to create more environmentally-friendly vehicles. "Other initiatives include the Company's goal of phasing out the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in all its new vendors and cooling equipment by 2015 and testing fuel cell technology in production facilities to provide electricity while reducing the facility's carbon footprint" (Coca-Cola® leads the charge toward greener fleets, 2011, Coca-Cola). Other initiatives include the introduction of the Plant Bottle, a bottle made from renewable, recyclable, plant-based plastic. "2-liter soda bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate, more commonly known as PET plastic, which is a non-renewable resource" (Takac 2009). It launched a plant billboard made of "a thriving species of Fukien tea plant, which absorbs air pollutants" so that while advertising its company it could also help improve the environment (Coca-Cola's environmentally-friendly plant billboard, 2011, Larry Fire)