Dive Brief:
- Ian Wright, a former co-founder of Tesla, is working on converting fuel-burning waste trucks into electric vehicles for his company, Wrightspeed.
- Wright says the shift to waste fleets makes sense because, in contrast to automobiles, the savings generated by a single garbage truck could be substantial. A single truck costs up to $60,000 to fuel each year.
- He initially started Wrightspeed to manufacture electric power trains for trucks, but wants to delve into designing electric systems for waste fleets and delivery trucks for use across the country.
Dive Insight:
The range-extended electric powertrain system could potentially save enough money to pay for the cost of a new system in a few years. The system generates electricity via braking and a turbine. It then stores the extra energy from the grid, into a battery.
The company says that the technology can eliminate 95% of NOx emissions, about 78% of particulates and 58% of CO2. The electric powertrain systems are also touted as major money-savers: expect substantial savings in the form of reduced maintenance costs and fuel expenditures.
In March, Wrightspeed released its fuel conversion kit for fleets. The retrofit powertrain converts existing trucks into an efficient vehicle without investing in the cost of replacing an entire fleet.
On September 16, Chicago became the first city in the U.S. to use an electric garbage truck to collect waste. This version was made by Motiv Park Systems and is expected to come with a savings of $11,000 due to lower maintenance and fuel costs.
