Clean diesel grant helps reduce air pollution in Minneapolis

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The big, shiny, red trucks that bring fizzy cola joy into the Phillips neighborhood will be doing so “with a 90% reduction in most tailpipe emissions,” according to Mark Sulzbach of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Clean Diesel Grant Program.

Thanks to an EPA Clean Diesel Grant from the MPCA in 2012, Eagan’s Coca-Cola Refreshments fleet replaced six older diesel trucks last fall with six new diesel-electric hybrids used in local deliveries. Eagan’s fleet management was happy to help by using the new cleaner trucks in core, urban routes, including deliveries in the Phillips neighborhood.

Diesel-electric hybrids are ideal for the stop-start operation of local deliveries, where stores may be only blocks apart. As an added benefit, “the trucks are quieter than their predecessors and early indications are that they will reduce fuel costs by about 10%,” according to Don Chiodo, Distribution Manager for the Twin Cities.

Inner-city neighborhoods often have higher pollution levels, in part, due to their proximity to highways and higher traffic on busy streets. These new hybrid delivery trucks will reduce emissions of nitrogen oxides and fine particle pollution by more than 90% when compared to the trucks they are replacing.

Coca-Cola’s grant paid for the extra cost of a hybrid above the cost of a new regular diesel delivery truck. Part of the grant requirements mandated that the older trucks that were replaced had to be taken out of service so they can’t pollute anywhere again. Eagan’s fleet now has 17 diesel-electric hybrids and plans to add to that number.

For more information

More information is available on the Grants/financial assistance for clean diesel projects webpage.

Visit MPCA's Minnesota Clean Diesel Recovery Act grant webpage for examples of other clean diesel grant projects.