A waste management company in France is set to begin the rollout of all-electric garbage trucks to clean the streets of the Paris suburb of Courbevoie. By the end of the year, SITA France expects to have 11 of the vehicles in operation and plans to replace the entire fleet eventually, according to Reuters.
The trucks were developed by PVI and Dow Kokam, a subsidiary of Dow Chemical. They use an advanced lithium polymer battery and all elements of the trucks and collecting refuse bins are electric. The 26-ton, zero-emission truck will eliminate 130 tons of CO2 per truck per year, the companies said.
Electrification of all powertrain elements of the trucks and the mechanical elements for collecting refuse bins allow for significantly reduced noise pollution, zero emissions and no idling during inactive
periods. The vehicles are capable of running at 44 mph fully loaded. They can handle 16 tons of payload capacity.
“The unveiling of our first fully electric refuse truck, arguably the largest electric truck on the market, is a great accomplishment in vehicle electrification because these trucks place unique and high demands on their operating systems due to specific designs for urban cleaning,” said Michel Bouton, the CEO of PVI. “The ability to introduce a completely electric truck of this size that doesn’t sacrifice performance or power is due to PVI’s extensive history in vehicle electrification and the selection of Dow Kokam’s advanced lithium polymer battery system technology, which provides ready solutions to meet the high performance needs of working trucks operating daily in urban environments.”
The modular plug-in battery pack was also designed to be interchangeable or accommodate a partial recharge between two daily service rounds, thus doubling performance capabilities, PVI said.
Dow Kokam will supply each truck with a complete battery system containing five strings of seven battery packs (equivalent to 250 kilowatt hours), power management capability and the complete battery management system.
“This achievement demonstrates that real advanced battery solutions exist for the commercial and fleet industry today,” said Jean-Francois Herchin, Vice President of Dow Kokam. “PVI has chosen Dow Kokam technology to achieve the highest level of usable energy while maintaining the power and acceleration necessary to move its massive 26-ton truck.”
