ATLANTA – United Parcel Service (UPS) has rolled out a small parcel delivery service in Northern California, using 42 electric cars and trucks from ZAP, according to http://www.cnn.money.com.

The UPS branch in Petaluma, Calif., has leased an initial fleet of 42 ZAP Xebra electric city cars and trucks for their small parcel deliveries. This is the first time that UPS has used electric city-speed vehicles for this purpose.

Small parcel deliveries are becoming more challenging for the trademark big, brown UPS delivery vans, which is why UPS is using the electric city cars and trucks to handle small parcel deliveries. The ZAP vehicles lessen fuel consumption and reduce automotive emissions produced by current delivery vehicles. Drivers will be monitoring their electrical usage to carefully analyze cost-savings and emissions reductions.

UPS is setting up strategic distribution nodes where vans can transfer packages to the ZAP Xebras for final delivery in smaller communities, neighborhoods, and downtown areas where larger delivery vans are less efficient and have a more difficult time navigating or parking.

A publicly owned automotive manufacturer and distributor based in nearby Santa Rosa, California, ZAP specializes in energy-efficient transportation technologies. The ZAP Xebra was designed as an economical electric city car that can handle city-speed driving up to 40 mph for daily urban driving, commuting, and light-duty government and corporate fleet applications. ZAP cars and trucks sell for a little over $10,000 with a cost of about three cents per mile for electricity.