FedEx's electric vehicle guru receives Aspen Institute fellowship

With crude oil hovering around $100 a barrel, it doesn't take a math whiz to figure out a company with 40,000 trucks on the road will live and die by the efficiency of its fleet.

But determining the best mix of vehicles, when to deploy hybrid and electric trucks versus sticking with diesel burners, that's where Memphis resident Keshav Sondhi comes in.

Associated Press files

FedEx added its first all-electric parcel delivery trucks to its U.S. fleet in 2010. As the company's chief engineer of global vehicles, Keshav Sondhi decides where such trucks will be used.

Photo courtesy of FedEx

Keshav Sondhi says he fell in love with mathematical modeling after he earned a mechanical engineering degree and interned in an auto manufacturing plant. "What I do today is almost like a dream job," he says. "I love vehicles, and I get to add mathematics into it."

As chief engineer of global vehicles at FedEx Express, Sondhi is the No. 1 number cruncher and organizer of a push to electrify short-haul transit.

His expertise is in demand at events and conferences like Fortune Brainstorming Green 2010 conference, and Sondhi has attracted the attention of prestigious think-tank the Aspen Institute.

Sondhi, 39, has been named to a First Mover Fellow by the institute's Business and Society program. The 19 fellows, representing companies such as Google, Cisco and Green Mountain Coffee, will gather in late July to collaborate, network and hone leadership skills.

EMBARQ, the World Resources Institute Center for Sustainable Transport, supported Sondhi's nomination for the fellowship because of his work with public transit officials in smog-plagued Mexico City.

"Keshav is one of the experts FedEx has lent to us on several occasions," said EMBARQ spokesman Ethan Arpi. "He knows every type of vehicle technology there is and what type of vehicle is most effective in reducing pollution."

A native of Nepal, Sondhi has lived in Memphis since 2005. He is responsible for strategic fleet plans and program manager for electric vehicles.

Part of his job is to determine when and where the company should replace a traditional truck with a considerably more expensive alternatively powered vehicle.

FedEx Express has 364 hybrid-electric vehicles, including at least three in Memphis, and 19 all-electric vehicles stationed around the world.

Sondhi said, "We have our eye on what type of holistic approach we can take: How can we have a fleet today with an eye on the future? What do we have in inventory today, and looking out a fairly significant window of a decade or so, how will we power the millions of miles we have to put on our fleet?"

Sondhi said he believed the First Mover fellowship reflected FedEx's status as a pioneer and early adopter of hybrid electric and electric vehicles.

"I'm privileged to be part of a great corporation that provides a lot of opportunities and does a lot of motivational things," he said.

Nancy McGaw, director of First Movers, said, "This remarkable and diverse group of innovators shares a commitment and ability to deliver business and social value." She added, "The fellowship helps high potential talent in companies think bolder and bigger and develop tools to succeed as changemakers."

Sondhi became enamored with mathematical modeling after he earned a mechanical engineering degree and interned in an auto manufacturing plant.

"What I do today is almost like a dream job," he said. "I love vehicles, and I get to add mathematics into it."

He was among FedEx officials hosting Energy Secretary Steven Chu during a visit to the Memphis hub in January.

While electrified vehicles make sense on relatively short routes with frequent stops, a diesel-powered truck will be the most efficient vehicle for longer routes well into the future.

"We don't like to operate the same truck on each and every route. We have inner-city routes, New York City, that are very different routes from say, Sheridan, Wyoming," Sondhi said.

However, prices of alternative vehicles are gradually coming down as production volume increases. As the cost of diesel increases, savings add up from lower operating costs of alternative vehicles.

"We can displace a major portion of our fleet with that if the economics really work," Sondhi said. "The capital premium (on hybrids and electric) is significantly larger, and that's why we're trying to work with a lot of manufacturers. We are moving into that segment before anyone else. We're working with practically every manufacturer of electric vehicles in the United States."

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