JUNO BEACH, Fla. – Committed to providing reliable energy while protecting the environment, Florida Power & Light this fall will make sure the rubber meets the road once again by adding five new hybrid trucks to its vehicle fleet, bringing the company’s total to eight.

FPL was the first company in the United States to put an industrial hybrid into service in May of 2006. That FPL hybrid truck is operating in Palm Beach County today and already exceeds the EPA’s 2010 diesel emissions standards.

In June, the Council for Sustainable Florida presented the Large Business Award to FPL for its Green Fleet Program, an initiative to reduce fuel consumption in the utilities' fleet.

“These trucks are widely regarded as the cleanest medium duty trucks in the country,” said George Survant, FPL’s director of Fleet Services.

In addition to the Palm Beach County truck, FPL hybrid trucks are on the road in Miami-Dade County and Sarasota.

FPL’s hybrid trucks are engineered to use 30 to 55 percent less fuel than standard trucks, but the benefits don’t end there.  FPL’s uses a biodiesel fuel mix – 80 percent diesel fuel mixed with 20 percent virgin soybean oil – to eliminate another 20 percent of the petroleum a conventional truck would use. The fuel also significantly reduces the trucks’ tailpipe emissions.

Furthering its leadership in the commercialization of industrial hybrids, FPL has led a group of 30 utilities from across the country in developing a pilot hybrid truck program.

Thirteen companies have put 24 trucks into service in companies across North America. Funding the hybrid packages was provided by the Department of Defense and the utilities themselves.

FPL’s commitment to a green fleet goes well beyond its medium duty utility trucks, which are primarily used by troubleshooters and restoration specialists.

Survant says FPL plans to convert one-third of its 2,900 company cars to hybrids by 2010. The company has 53 hybrid cars on the road today.

“Fuel is price volatile and supply is fragile,” he said. “Anytime we can reduce our exposure to a volatile and fragile commodity, we’ve made a good business decision.”  

Fast Facts about the Fleet

• A Hybrid vehicle is defined as using any combination of two separate power sources with one of two coming from some type of stored energy.
• Hybrids can be Hydraulic/Diesel, Electric/Diesel or Electric/Gasoline, all of which reduce petroleum use and improve emissions.
• Hybrid trucks use a computer-controlled drive train, capable of powering the truck in a pure electric or conventional mode, or a combination of both.
• FPL line specialists can operate a hybrid truck’s bucket using just the electric motors for as long as two hours and then recharge them in three minutes.
• Each hybrid truck is capable of producing 25 kilowatts of electricity.
• The trucks save FPL an average of 10 gallons of gasoline per day, roughly $30 per day, per truck.

Florida Power & Light Company is the principal subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc. (NYSE: FPL), nationally known as a high quality, efficient and customer-driven organization focused on energy-related products and services. With annual revenues of nearly $16 billion and a growing presence in 26 states, FPL Group is widely recognized as one of the country's premier power companies. Florida Power & Light Company serves 4.4 million customer accounts in Florida. FPL Energy, LLC, FPL Group's competitive energy subsidiary, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.FPL.com, www.FPLGroup.com and www.FPLEnergy.com.