South Australia cleans up with first all-electric garbage truck

The first all-electric kerbside garbage collection truck is now operating in South Australia, as part of a fleet replacement program for metropolitan Adelaide.

Operated by waste and resource management company East Waste, the $550,000 electric truck made by Melbourne’s Sea Electric will save 63 tonnes a year of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

But it’s not just a feel good initiative, says East Waste general manager Rob Gregory in a statement.

The truck cost a good $150,000 more to buy than the diesel kerbside collection truck it replaces, but it will in fact cost less to run over its lifetime, says Gregory.

“It will deliver financial gain to better manage the cost of kerbside collections of recyclable resources and waste,” he says.

“We conservatively project that our new electric vehicle will save more than $220,000 over the seven-year life of its diesel predecessor. Even with the extra $150,000 purchase price, that is a $70,000 saving.”

And it should last longer than 7 years says Gregory, with significantly fewer moving parts that mean maintenance costs are at least two-thirds less than a diesel equivalent.

But better than that, Gregory expects it that truck’s silent operation and lack of exhaust pollution will make it a welcome addition to the community’s waste collection vehicles.

“Residents will fall in love with our new truck without realising it,” says Gregory.

“With reduced air pollution comes the removal of noise pollution as the truck travels from house to house on bin collection day. It is almost silent.”

East Waste have also installed 36kW of solar at the Ottoway depot to provide power to recharge the trucks’s batteries.