The City of Casey in Melbourne's outer south east council have put Australia's first 100% electric garbage trucks to work on collection.
The trucks were designed and manufactured in Australia. The managing director of waste services Mark Jeffs says the trucks are cleaner, cheaper and quieter than their diesel predecessors. He also says that "they will reduce annual fuel and running costs as they are require less maintenance and last longer than normal trucks." Full story here.
A recent article published by the Pembina Institute writer Sarah Hastings-Simon writes that:
Typical garbage trucks are just about the most inefficient vehicle around, with constant starts and stops and all that idling they average around 1.3 km per liter. An electric garbage truck using regenerative breaking that captures that energy can reduce fuel consumption by up to 70 per cent.
But fuel savings are only part of the benefit – constant stopping and starting is hard on the brakes, engine and transmission. Significant savings in maintenance costs(estimated at $20,000 per year) from regenerative braking and an electric battery further improve the economics. Carbon levy funds from the province for new or retrofitted trucks would deliver significant savings to the city.
Last month, GreenWaste of Palo Alto, Calif. announced it has debuted the world’s first full-sized all-electric side-loading refuse truck and will order three more for routes in the city, which lies in the heart of Silicon Valley. The vehicle will be on display at the upcoming Waste Expo in Las Vegas.
Manufactured by Buffet-backed Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD, the truck has a 50 mile range and 195 kWh of battery capacity. The truck can save approximately 6,000 gallons of diesel per year. It has the potential to reduce emissions by about 78 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents per year. With a 40-kW charger, time to charge is about five hours.
Cities can now demonstrate their support for renewable energy and sustainability by investing in the fully electric garbage trucks.
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(Municipal World)