FLEETDRIVE day , and across our fleet of around 800 trucks it would be close to 100,000 litres of diesel saved every single day .
Electric trucks are a perfect fit for waste collections . Our collection trucks do about 200 kilometres a day on average and then return back to base . That return to base is quite important because it enables us to go out , do our collections through the day , come back and charge overnight .”
Another aspect of waste collection that makes electric vehicles ideal is its stop-start nature . For example , a residential collection sideload truck would stop 1200 times a day . In a diesel truck , every time you do that , you ’ re losing energy through friction on the brakes . We can capture some of this energy through regeneration . So far , we ’ re getting up to 30 % of the energy we use for driving returned to the battery through regeneration .
The total operating cost of electric trucks is lower than diesel equivalents , however , the capital cost is higher , which over time should decrease as more of these trucks become available through OEMs .
There are significant health and safety benefits through reduction in carbon dioxide , zero particulate emissions and other harmful gasses .
The instant torque from the electric motors , allows for enhanced vehicle performance on hill climbs and from stationary starts . This enables
our EV trucks to pull away from a stationary position and merge with traffic in the same manner throughout the day , whether empty or full .
Noise reduction enhances the hearing and awareness of our drivers , making them more alert and responsive to their surroundings . Further to this , our drivers have commented on their reduced stress and feeling less tired during shifts .
Finally , our EVs are an important step towards closing the loop in our contribution to a truly circular economy .
We generate electricity from waste at a number of our landfill sites around the country , which is fed into the national grid to boost local supply .
A typical automated side-load truck collects approximately 16,000kg of waste from 1200- 1500 homes a day and will make two trips to a disposal point .
The 16,000kg of general waste produces landfill gas , which is passed through gas generators to produce around 6,000 kilowatts of electricity . This equates to the energy required to run a waste collection truck and also power around 275 homes for a day , or run a typical electric passenger vehicle for 30,000km .
Waste Management currently has 32 electric trucks collecting waste and recycling on New Zealand roads . The goal is to reach 50 by the end of 2023 .
ISSUE 41 JULY 2023 / WWW . AFMA . ORG . AU 7