BYD recently delivered to the City of Palo Alto and the city’s waste management firm GreenWaste its first all-electric automated side-loader garbage/refuse truck.
The new BYD electric garbage truck utilizes its battery pack to provide propulsion (to move it forward and backward) as well as for the operation of its hydraulic system — with the truck possessing a range of 76 miles per full charge and a charge time of only 2–3 hours.
The newly delivered truck will reportedly be used for a variety of different service routes in the city — including urban and residential ones, and some featuring steep inclines — as part of its initial deployment.
BYD wants to electrify everything in transportation, and so they see great potential for turning over diesel or natural gas refuse truck fleets to zero-emission, battery-electric trucks. This battery-electric refuse truck will save GreenWaste and the City of Palo Alto will enjoy savings of more than $16,000 annually due to the truck’s high-efficiency electric motors and controls, as well as less maintenance required for the propulsion systems, fewer fluids to change, less brake wear due to regenerative braking technology, and fewer moving parts overall.