Ecomaine commits to all-electric waste hauling trucks powered by trash
Courtesy / ecomaine
Seen here is Lion Electric’s prototype all-electric truck. Ecomaine has commissioned the manufacture of a waste-hauling version of the e-truck.
Ecomaine Portland announced a deal to buy two all-electric waste hauling trucks from the Lion Electric Co., a Canadian company.
It is believed to be the first company in the nation to employ all-electric waste hauling vehicles that are powered by its own waste-to-energy operations, according to a news release. Lion Electric is based in Saint-Jérôme, Québec.
The trucks will be used to replace two diesel-powered vehicles that transport waste material from ecomaine’s waste-to-energy plant to its landfill.
The fuel for these trucks will ultimately be the trash that it collected from its 70 member communities.
“This presents a unique opportunity for ecomaine, and Maine as a whole, to serve as a real leader in this emerging technology,” ecomaine CEO Kevin Roche, said in the release. “The fact that we are using trucks to haul waste that are also powered by waste really closes the loop on the story of Maine’s trash. And since waste-to-energy generates ten times more electricity than a landfill, our role as both the supplier and the user of this power is magnified even more.”
“This is a real win-win for ecomaine,” board member Mike Shaw of Scarborough said in the release. “To have ecomaine pilot this technology and to research its application on behalf of all 70 of our communities allows us to mutually benefit from that knowledge, rather than each town going it alone.”
The purchase of the trucks was made possible in large part by a combined grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The grant, combined with funds matched by ecomaine, allowed the company to secure two electric trucks from the Lion Electric Co.
Ecomaine estimated it would save approximately 75% on fuel costs over six years, when comparing diesel to the amount of electricity it would use from its waste-to-energy plant, in addition to the trucks’ zero-emission feature and fewer mechanical parts to maintain.
The trucks will join ecomaine’s electric cars, also powered by trash, as the company aims to increase public awareness about sustainable strategies for Maine’s waste, including the advantages of electricity produced by waste-to-energy.
Production time for the trucks is expected to be nine to 10 months, with ecomaine expecting to take receipt of the vehicles near the end of 2020.
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