ATLANTA -- UPS announced the purchase of 100 all-electric delivery vehicles for deployment in California.

The 100 vehicles will be acquired from Electric Vehicles International (EVI) of Stockton, Calif., and will replace older generation diesel trucks. These electric vehicles will have a 90-mile range and displace an estimated 126,000 gallons of fuel a year that would have been burned running diesel trucks.

"This purchase is a milestone for UPS's alternative fleet expansion," said Mike Britt, UPS's director of vehicle engineering. "UPS's research and development of alternative technologies has determined it is time to explore electric drive systems within the short-range segment of our delivery fleet. This purchase is an important first step in supporting investment and advancement in electric vehicle technology. EVI's vehicle met our requirements in the test phase. Now we will operate these vehicles in the real world and help establish the future viability of this technology."

UPS currently has 28 all-electric vehicles in its fleet operating in New York City and in Europe.

UPS operates one of the largest private fleets of alternative fuel vehicles in its industry, with more than 2,200 in total. Since 2000, UPS's "green fleet" has traveled more than 200 million miles. Besides all-electric technology, UPS has deployed compressed natural gas, propane, liquified natural gas and hybrid-electric vehicles in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Brazil, Korea, the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. It also has tested hybrid hydraulic and hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles.