Electric refuse truck in use in Lyon, France

Lyon Metropole has added an electric refuse collection vehicle to its fleet.

The 26-tonne Range D Wide Renault Z.E. will be put into service in Meyzieu within the Lyon metropolitan area this month.

Renault Trucks CEO Bruno Blin said: “Electric mobility is at the core of the energy strategy we have implemented to meet EU regulations aimed at significantly reducing the CO2 emissions of vehicles over 16 tonnes.”

Refuse collection is an application for which electrical technology is particularly well suited.

The operating cycles of refuse collection vehicles include a great deal of stopping and restarting (300 to 800 times for each collection round), resulting in high fuel consumption and significant dust and particle emissions linked to the rapid wear of the braking system.

As electric vehicles mainly use their engines to slow down, use of brakes and the production of related emissions are both reduced. For a Euro VI truck, particulate emissions linked to abrasion (the wear of tyres and brakes) are higher than emissions linked to fuel use.

The 26-tonne Renault Trucks D Wide Z.E. features an electric engine in the wheelbase, providing the interface between the truck and its equipment. The vehicle has been converted by Faun Environnement, who coupled a hydraulic pump to the standard interface in order to power the refuse collection system. Faun Environnement optimised both the bodywork and its mass to compensate for the weight of the batteries. The bodywork specialist also altered the hydraulic circuit to reduce noise levels and soundproofed the rear section to confine the noise created by falling waste to within the trailer. These changes have enabled noise levels to be reduced by 3 decibels.

Developed with assistance from the French Environment & Energy Management Agency (ADEME), this Range D Wide Z.E. refuse collection truck is the first pre-production vehicle of the Renault Trucks range of electric trucks, which is due to be launched onto the market at the end of 2019.