Yes, the Navistar-built, Modec-designed big honking van they let us pilot around a big parking lot south of the Los Angeles Sports Arena is powered by 80 kilowatt-hours of lithium-ion batteries spinning a 76-kilowatt (102-hp, 221 lb-ft) electric motor. With a range of 100 miles in city driving, an operator could complete a standard eight-hour day on a single charge.

Inside the spacious, modern cab are two seats and enough elbow room for a party. As with any electric motor, 100 percent of its torque is available at zero rpm, so it feels pretty perky off the line. While the truck can carry up to 3,300 pounds of those white FedEx boxes on flip-down shelves in the back, our truck was empty, so with only the 8,800-pound curb weight of the aluminum-chassised, fiberglass-bodied van to move, that surely helped the perk.

Also, under normal delivery conditions, the tires would be at 110 psi to shoulder all that weight, but on our drive they were rolling on only 80 psi. So ours was a more comfortable ride. And the weather during our drive was a balmy 70 or so degrees, which was nice because the truck has no air conditioning or heater. Once the summer sun starts its annual fryer vat of the Los Angeles basin in a couple months, the drive will get a little less comfy for those hardy FedEx drivers, especially with the Navistar van's ginormous, solar-gaining windshield.

But FedEx is looking to learn from its trial run of four electric vans it will run in Los Angeles for the next year. Among the biggest problem to be met is price--electric vans cost 50 percent more than their conventionally powered garagemates. Cost could come down once volume goes up, FedEx hopes.

There are solutions to any problem, especially heating and air conditioning in an EV, and FedEx hopes to figure out as many of them as it can in the coming 12 months. After that, the idea is to expand the alternative-fueled FedEx fleet to 20 percent of the total by 2020, including expansion of the 396 hybrid delivery vans currently in use.

FedEx operates 96,000 delivery vehicles worldwide, so its interest in alternative fuel is no trifling thing.