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Veolia has confirmed the first electric refuse trucks for its newly won contract with City of London Corporation will be joining the fleet in July.

In total, seven zero-emission RCVs will be supplied by Lancashire-based Electra Commercial Vehicles, which specialises in converting truck chassis to fully electric drivelines.

Veolia’s new 26-tonne Electra trucks will be based on the Dennis Eagle Elite chassis, popular for urban waste operations due to its low-entry cab design.

They will feature an all-electric driveline fitted with a 280kW battery pack capable of enabling a full day's bin collections on one charge.

All seven trucks will be in place within the first year of what the council termed a “technology-driven” contract servicing London’s Square Mile, awarded to Veolia last month following a competitive tender process.

The contract will see the City of London Corporation become the first local authority in the UK to run a fully electric refuse fleet.

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Technology being used by Veolia will see all vehicles fitted with 360-degree cameras and audible warning reversal systems to improve safety, as well as on-board weighing equipment to digitally record bin weights at residential properties, enabling recycling performance to be efficiently calculated.

All vehicles will be digitally tracked to monitor and auto-allocate cleaning tasks dependant on geographical location and capacity.

Veolia will also operate 74 solar auto-compacting BigBelly bins, which send notifications to collection crews when they are full, allowing more waste to be collected.

Jeremy Simons, chair of the city corporation’s port health and environmental services committee, said: “This pioneering technology-driven contract aims to exceed the high standards people expect of our waste and cleansing services whether they work, visit or live in the City.”

Gavin Graveson, executive VP for Veolia UK & Ireland, said: “We are excited to bring industry leading knowledge to the City of London, and to deliver innovative and sustainable technologies to this unique part of the capital. This new tech-driven service will bring significant benefits to the community and the environment.

“The new fleet of electric vehicles will play a significant role in improving local air quality, with real-time data technologies delivering greater synergies between collections and street cleansing operations. "

Diesel power on its way out

The City of London Corporation has adopted a no-diesel strategy for all new fleet vehicles where there is a viable alternative to realise its ambition of a zero-emission vehicle parc.

city of london electric van

In line with this it last week announced three new 120-mile range electric vans would be joining the fleet in the form of the SAIC Maxus, which is sold in the London area through Heathrow LDV.

The vehicles are fitted with Brigade’s Quiet Vehicle Sounder and white noise reversing rear for enhanced pedestrian and cyclist safety.

Full driver training will be provided to City Corporation staff by the team at Heathrow LDV.

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