Sheffield City Council is to trial two electric bin lorries, which will be powered by the household waste they collect.
Old diesel RCVs will be repowered with electric vehicle drive systems by Sheffield-based Magtec, as an alternative to replacing them with new Euro-6 lorries.
They will then be charged with electricity produced at the city’s Energy Recovery Facility at Bernard Road, generated by processing the city’s black bin waste into energy.
The repowered lorries will be powerful enough to negotiate Sheffield’s seven hills, even when full and produce zero carbon and zero tailpipe emissions.
Sheffield’s first repowered refuse lorry - a 2010 registered 26-tonne Dennis Elite 6X2 rear steer - is already in operation, with the second to follow shortly.
Councillor Mark Jones, Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change, said: “This is an amazing, innovative project that puts Sheffield and the region at the forefront of green technology.
“Using local expertise, we are piloting a new repowered 26-tonne bin lorry which is powered by the electricity produced by the waste it collects. We believe we are the first local authority ever to do this, putting Sheffield at the forefront of the green energy revolution.”
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Marcus Jenkins, founder and director of Magtec, said: “The quickest and most economical way to reduce harmful emissions in our cities is to repower diesel trucks with electric drives.
“Converting one bin lorry to electric is equivalent to taking 30 diesel powered cars off the streets. We are especially delighted that two of the repowered vehicles will be running in our home city of Sheffield.
“Repowering larger fleets of vehicles will accelerate the growth of Magtec and create more high quality engineering jobs and opportunities for young people.”
The project is part of a £2.6m national scheme to accelerate the transition to zero emission heavy goods vehicles funded by Innovate UK.
Sheffield’s project is made up of six partners including Veolia which will be responsible for operating the vehicles in the city as part of its waste contract with Sheffield City Council.
Sheffield has been awarded £220,000 by Innovate for the battery packs for two Sheffield-based vehicles. The rest of the costs are met with funding from Innovate and from other partners.
The project will deliver two vehicles for Sheffield and two for Westminster Council, with both areas now having one vehicle in operation.
Gavin Graveson, Executive Vice president for Veolia UK and Ireland, said: “This project highlights Veolia’s ongoing investment in clean air solutions across the UK.
“By converting existing vehicles and trialling alternative fleet solutions with forward thinking local authority partners like Sheffield City Council, we are not only preserving resources but are lowering emissions and creating greener cities.”
The other partners are DG Cities and Microlise.
Typically a waste collection vehicle is used for seven years at which point the cost to maintain the vehicle typically exceeds the costs to replace it. Normally the vehicles are sent abroad or stripped for parts.
The EV r-power can extend the working life of the vehicle for a further seven years, according to Magtec.
The project will put the vehicles into service and conduct a research and development scheme over two years to fully test the vehicles for durability, performance and cost effectiveness.
