Motiv Power Systems has received a $13.4m contract to provide all-electric, zero-emission garbage trucks to the city of Chicago in US.
Under the contract, the company will offer the city with 20 class-eight EV refuse trucks, which weigh 52,000 lbs and ranges more than 60 miles, with a total energy storage of 200 kWh.
The EV garbage trucks will use the Motiv electric powertrain control system (ePCS) as the pilot bus as well as includes a larger motor and 10 battery packs.
In addition, the garbage trucks will also use an electric motor to drive the hydraulics system.
Motiv Business Development and Marketing vice president Shyam Nagrani said the ePCS can scale up and down to meet the exact needs of any fleet using a conventional chassis.
"These EV refuse trucks will provide the streets of Chicago with quiet, emissions-free garbage pick-up, without submitting residents to excessive diesel pollution or loud noise. Who wants to be woken up at 5 AM by an idling garbage truck?," Nagrani said.
The ePCS, uses off-the-shelf batteries and motors that can be mixed and matched to fit the exact size of the electric truck needed.
Motiv ePCS, which will cut the operating costs by 50% over eight years, can handle electric trucks from medium-duty to Class 8 heavy-duty, weighing 15,000 lbs-52,000 lbs.
Motiv CEO Jim Castelaz said scaling up from the medium-duty pilot bus to the Class 8 garbage truck is a matter of switching out components and re-packaging it onto the new chassis.
"We've designed the whole system to be compatible with any off-the-shelf motors and batteries, which are brought to a uniform operating standard by our software," Castelaz said.
"If Chicago ever wants newer batteries, the old ones can be easily swapped out."
