Jan 12, 2011

Science Scene - Electric Garbage Trucks


Paris waste management is about to get cleaner.  The city will be getting 12 all-electric garbage trucks by the end of 2011.

The trucks are being built by PVI Electric Powertrain and will feature five strings of seven lithium-ion battery packs providing 250 kWh of energy.  The batteries will have a liquid cooling system to keep temperatures in line.  Each new truck will reduce CO2 emissions by 130 tons compared to a diesel-fueled truck.

Like city buses, or the hybrid street sweeper that just hit New York City streets, garbage trucks are well-suited for electrification.  They have fixed routes, travel at mostly slower speeds and have a lot of stops and starts -- conditions that allow battery power to really excel over diesel or gasoline.  The shifts that municipal trucks operate on are also perfect for fitting in recharging or battery swaps.

The electric garbage truck can pick up 16 tons of waste in two rounds of service before needing a recharge or swap.  The first truck will be introduced into the Paris suburb of Courbevoie and the next eleven will be in service within the next year.



Source

4 comments:

  1. Hopefully this will become the new 'thing' and more cities will adopt such vehicles.

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  2. Thanks for the info. Also, I never thought of the conditions that batt's are much better than diesel in. Those boys are slow stop and go until they head for the dump, maybe they will have a little briggs and stratton to assist (ha). Never thought of the need for water cooling, I guess that is lack of engineering knowledge!
    Stay warm.....(we are going into the freezing temps in Florida, but we willwarm up!!)

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  3. Europe is always so far ahead of us when it comes to doing the right, smart thing.

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  4. Some day we'll get where France is today. Somehow I get the feeling they will still be ten(twenty) years ahead of us.

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