The sound you can hear is probably the residents of the Sunshine Coast in Queensland celebrating the arrival of a Volvo electric truck as part of a trail by JJ’s Waste as a rubbish truck. It probably won’t be the noise of the truck.
Nosy diesel garbage trucks are the bane of anyone who has been woken by the din from a truck driven by an operator gunning the truck from bin to bin.
Now Volvo has announced it has entered into an agreement with key waste management contractor, JJ’s Waste and Recycling to trial the Volvo FE Electric in waste applications.
According to Volvo the 6×3 FL electric which was featured on featured on the VGA stand at the recent Brisbane Truck Show has been affectionately nicknamed ‘Oscar’ by VGA staff, and has been fitted with a rear loading; 16 cubic metre waste body ideally suited for urban operations.
The truck will be starting a three-month trial on the Sunshine Coast and the company says it will provide insights into the impact of electric PTO use on range and productivity.
Volvo says the truck utilisers four Gen 2 batteries with a capacity of 265KWh the dual motor FE Electric has a potential range of up to 220 kilometres.
“The electromobility and waste management really do go hand in hand and the stop start nature of this application in densely populated urban areas should prove to be a promising zero emissions solution for our cities.” Said Volvo Trucks Australia vice president, Gary Bone.
“I look forward to seeing the results of this trial which will prove invaluable as we continue on our decarbonization journey,” said Bone.
“Recent developments in battery technology, which will flow down to Volvo’s medium duty electric range have seen significant increases in both range and charging performance which will only add to the attractiveness of electric vehicles in waste applications,” he added.
Volvo said that the FE Electric with the rear loading waste body, has a potential payload of up to 7 tonnes depending on body positioning and the corresponding front axle load.
Joe Branagan, operations manager, JJ’s Waste and Recycling also shared his enthusiasm for the trial saying this is the perfect opportunity for the company to understand how it can decarbonise the fleet over time.”
“Clearly we can’t just switch to electric overnight so partnerships like the one we have with Volvo Trucks are vital to see what applications we can put electric trucks to work in now as well as what the future of zero emissions waste management could look like,” said Branagan.
“I will be watching the outcome of this exercise with great interest!”
