Cities are noisy places. From the clatter of construction to the screech of the subway, urbanites live with loud and often unexpected sounds at all hours of the day. The rumble of the garbage truck as it pauses between pickups is one of the sounds that is as iconic as it is irritating.
Thanks to North America鈥檚 first all-electric garbage truck, residents of some Chicago neighborhoods start the day without the morning roar of solid waste management. Unlike conventional diesel vehicles, Chicago鈥檚 electric garbage truck does not idle loudly as it makes its way between buildings. However, electric garbage trucks are poised to deliver more than just peaceful mornings.
Chicago鈥檚 electric garbage truck was developed by聽Motiv Power Systems in response to a competitive request for proposals looking for environmentally friendly ways to collect garbage throughout the city. Despite this ambitious project, garbage collection poses challenges for electric vehicles. Notably, garbage trucks have to haul heavy loads that call for powerful batteries. Chicago鈥檚 electric garbage truck has a carrying capacity of nine tons and operates a trash compactor with a compression capacity of 1,000 pounds per cubic yard. It鈥檚 also equipped with 200 kilowatt hours of energy, more than twice that of a Tesla.
These specs may seem daunting, but the demands of garbage collection actually increase the benefits of electrification. For one thing, the higher fuel use of heavy-duty vehicles means more savings in terms of both costs and carbon emissions.
When Motiv鈥檚 electric garbage truck first hit the road in Chicago in 2014, the conventional diesel trucks used $70 worth of fuel per day while the new truck needed just $7 per day of electricity for charging. As a result, the electric garbage truck saves 2,668 gallons of fuel a year and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 68 tons. Motiv has calculated that electrifying one quarter of Chicago鈥檚 garbage trucks would save 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide in a single year.
In addition to improving energy efficiency, urban garbage collection is well-suited to the current state of electric vehicle technology. Jim Castelaz, founder and CEO of Motiv, explains that 鈥渆lectric would be a really great power for city garbage trucks because of their route profile.鈥�
Garbage trucks are rarely required to drive at high speeds in cities, but predictable routes create time for vehicles to recharge before returning to the road. Chicago鈥檚 electric garbage truck can cover 60 miles at up to 50 miles per hour on an eight-hour charge. That won鈥檛 get you far in聽commercial trucking, but it鈥檚 enough mileage to pick up a lot of residential garbage bins.
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