New York’s Department of Sanitation has been trying out one truck, which they’ve had since November of 2020. Mack Trucks They’re quiet enough for a conversation The bulldog on the front has a copper color, to represent electricity. Mack makes the truck’s chassis, but the body up top-the part that squashes the garbage and stores it-comes from one of three different companies and connects to the vehicle’s frame. The upshot is that it’s gentler on the truck’s overworked brakes. The motors that usually power the truck become like generators, feeding power back to the batteries. “As soon as you let off, you feel that sense that you’re being pulled back a little bit automatically,” says Greg Gentle, who leads this electric vehicle project at Mack. When it’s engaged, the driver will notice it kick in when they take their foot off the accelerator. The regenerative braking function can be switched off, or placed on high or low. “Feedback we’re getting from the operators is that they really like the trucks,” Barraclough says, describing the vehicles as “peppy.” Those motors can produce 448 horsepower and 4,051 lb-ft of torque. The two-speed transmission turns a drive shaft, which goes back to a rear axle to power the wheels. Those batteries send their juice to two electric motors, which connect to a transmission. The truck relies on four Lithium NMC (nickel manganese cobalt) batteries. “It’s a 50-yard dash, 800 1,000 times per day,” Barraclough adds, meaning that “you have a lot of opportunity for regenerative braking.” In that case, the dynamic motion of the truck slowing down helps charge the batteries. Plus, the start-and-stop nature of neighborhood garbage collection helps, too. That pattern lends itself well to charging, because “they’re home every night at the same location.” “Range is always a concern with any electric vehicle, but the nice thing about refuse vehicles is they’re generally running regular, predictable routes,” says Scott Barraclough, a product manager at Mack Trucks. Refuse is a good fit for an electric truckĪnyone who’s ever pondered a long drive in an electric vehicle has worried about charging it, but the rhythms of waste collection mean that’s less of an issue. Here’s what to know about how these super-heavy electric garbage trucks work, and why electrifying refuse vehicles in cities like New York isn’t a stinky idea. They could quietly cruise down streets in Manhattan, the Bronx, and other boroughs by 2023. The New York City Department of Sanitation acquired a Mack electric garbage truck in 2020 as a test vehicle, and now is planning on ordering seven more. Vehicles like the new Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck represent a beefier type of electric conveyance, and one of the beefiest ones on the block are huge electric garbage trucks from Mack. But that’s not always the case, of course. It’s easy to think about electric vehicles as just small, zippy rides like a Tesla or a Mustang Mach E.

Electric garbage truck price