Zero Emissions Coming Soon to Garbage Trucks in the US

Waste service Republic Services has teamed up with truck manufacturer Oshkosh Corporations to develop electric garbage trucks.

Electric vehicles have become an increasingly popular transition as people look for ways to reduce their impact on the planet. Recent years have seen exponential growth in the sale of electric vehicles with improved range, wider model availability and increased performance. In addition to personal vehicles becoming electric, other modes of transportation are making the switch, including buses, trains, and now even garbage trucks.

Republic Services provides recycling and waste services across the United States. It is a leader in the environmental service industry and is committed to the environment and promoting sustainability across its services. Republic Services processes 5 million tons of recyclable material annually and currently operates 77 renewable energy projects at their landfills and brownfields across the country. This company has also set a goal to reduce absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 35% by 2030

Recently, Republic Services announced that it is partnering with Oshkosh Corporation, a truck manufacturer that produces a wide range of specialty vehicles, to develop a fleet of electric garbage trucks. The company plans to run half its 17 000 garbage trucks on clean, renewable energy in the next five years. It will begin operating two fully integrated electric recycling and waste prototypes at the end of 2023.

The Oshkosh Corporation has a long history of developing fully electric and hybrid vehicles for a wide variety of industries. They have built electric vehicles for UPS that can accommodate both internal combustion and battery-electric engines. Over the next ten years, the company will deliver between 50 000 and 165 000 of these vehicles to UPS. Oshkosh has developed the first zero-emissions electric fire and emergency vehicles, the first one being used at the Fire Department of Wisconsin. The fire truck has a parallel-electric drivetrain with an electro-mechanical transmission that uses zero emissions when integrated batteries power it. The batteries can be charged using on-site recharging infrastructure. The company is also testing an electric discharge concrete placement vehicle whose lithium-ion battery has a ten-year lifespan.

The electric garbage trucks that will be provided to Republic Service include advanced lithium-ion batteries and a completely revolutionized electric axle system. The vehicle allows for a full day of use on a single charge with zero emissions. The vehicles can be charged overnight at the waste facility. The company will begin rolling out their trucks first in Phoenix, Arizona and then to Santa Ana, California, Carlsbad, California, and Portland, Oregon.

Adding electric garbage trucks to its fleet is one step closer for Republic Services to further reduce its environmental impact and achieve its 2030 emission reduction goal. Hopefully, their first two vehicles will inspire other states and even other countries to implement electric waste vehicles.