Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night top ‘tenacity, determination, cooperation’

Alternative fuel trucks to deliver the mail

The McAbee, ROUSH CleanTech, Rush Enterprises and Mickey Truck Bodies team at the NTEA Work Truck Show.

HIGH POINT, NC ? APRIL 13, 2020 ? McAbee Trucking, a freight shipping and trucking company in Blacksburg, SC, has purchased eight Ford F-750 delivery trucks fueled by propane Autogas. They will be the first emission-reducing propane Autogas trucks used for contracted parcel delivery between United States Postal Service locations in North and South Carolina.

The trucks, unveiled at the NTEA Work Truck Show in Indianapolis last month, feature 26-foot van bodies manufactured by Mickey Truck Bodies, upfitted with the ROUSH CleanTech propane fuel system, which is 90-percent cleaner than the Environmental Protection Agency?s most stringent heavy-duty emission standard. ?We had great traffic at the NTEA booth,? says Dylan Kyle, ROUSH CleanTech?s Commercial Sales Manager. ?Being involved with a family name like McAbee, which has been a decades long contractor of the mission-critical USPS application, showed very well.?

?As a business owner, I continually look for ways to add safety, improve day-to-day operations, advocate for environmental preservation and save money,? said Lisa McAbee, owner of McAbee Trucking. ?Our new propane fleet vehicles accomplish all these goals.?

In January, Lisa?s ?dream? was to have her company?s first-of-a-kind mail delivery truck on display at the NTEA show. ?I thought, ?how can we get this done in only three months?? ROUSH had the chassis, now Mickey had to build the body from scratch. We all spent three weeks going over the specs for a mail delivery truck, something Mickey had never made before, and we made several changes along the way. I inspected that body from top to bottom and was so proud of it. We got it perfect. I want a Mickey body on every truck I own from now on. I?m sincere when I say that. It?s a great truck, rides great, and is cleaner than diesels. It?s a winner.?

The key to the success, Lisa says, was the ?tenacity, determination and cooperation? of the three companies. ?We came together to make something that seemed impossible only three months earlier. Mickey and ROUSH had to pull off a lot to get that truck done in time to make it to Indianapolis. Not many companies can build a truck in three weeks. Mickey Truck Bodies and ROUSH CleanTech surpassed my expectations for both the process and product.?

?At Mickey Truck Bodies we?re always proud of the work we do, but it?s especially satisfying to deliver quality equipment to forward-thinking companies that are taking a green approach toward the environment,? says Tom Arland, Mickey President. ?McAbee Trucking is one of those companies. ROUSH CleanTech is also a forward-thinking company, and we?re proud to be partnered with Joe Rudolph [Vice President, Sales ? Commercial Trucks] and his team. Rush Truck Center was also a great partner on this project.?

Bobby Stanley, National Account Manager at Rush Enterprises, Inc., led the team that supplied the Ford F-750s for the builds.

Propane Autogas costs about 40% less than gasoline, and 50% less than diesel. Propane fleets report savings of 30 to 50% on filters and fluids due to the clean operation of the fuel. To fuel its new fleet, McAbee will install a propane station onsite. Until then, the company has onsite ?mobile fueling,? where its local propane supplier fuels the vehicles from a propane delivery truck.

?Propane is really a great fit for the size and duty cycle of the trucks we use in our business,? said Lisa.

McAbee Trucking has more than 47 years of experience serving the USPS. It has achieved an on- time dispatch rating of over 99% by the USPS.