Oregonian electrification of the municipal waste collection wagon. It looks like an expensive purchase up-front, but the fuel and maintenance savings would pay for themselves over the vehicle's...
Oregonian electrification of the municipal waste collection wagon.
The battery-powered garbage truck is the first of its kind in the state. COR Disposal and Recycling, which owns and operates the vehicle, debuted the truck in early November at a ceremony with the utility Portland General Electric. The zero-emissions model will collect trash in East Portland, an area that’s disproportionately affected by toxic diesel exhaust from garbage trucks, big rigs and other heavy-duty vehicles operating nearby.
As of late June, 48 zero-emissions refuse trucks had been deployed in the United States, according to data provided by Calstart, a clean transportation group. While that represents only a tiny fraction of the country’s tens of thousands of garbage trucks, it’s still more than double the number of battery-powered models deployed at the end of 2022.
As with most electrified transportation alternatives, battery-powered garbage trucks are generally cheaper to operate and maintain than diesel versions, experts say. Electric powertrains are far more energy-efficient than internal combustion engines, and electricity is typically less expensive as a fuel source than diesel — all of which lowers the cost per mile of driving a battery-powered truck.
Then there are the brakes. Garbage trucks can stop as often as 700 times a day as they go house to house, which quickly erodes the brakes in diesel trucks and racks up maintenance costs. In electric models, the regenerative braking system makes gentler stops and so wears down less frequently. It also partially recharges the vehicle’s battery, giving trucks more juice en route.
It looks like an expensive purchase up-front, but the fuel and maintenance savings would pay for themselves over the vehicle's lifetime. There are some state and federal subsidies to help with the cost of acquisition, mostly funding from President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.'s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed in the year of our lord two thousand and twenty-one (2021) so help me!
Oregonian electrification of the municipal waste collection wagon.
It looks like an expensive purchase up-front, but the fuel and maintenance savings would pay for themselves over the vehicle's lifetime. There are some state and federal subsidies to help with the cost of acquisition, mostly funding from President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.'s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed in the year of our lord two thousand and twenty-one (2021) so help me!