IVECO teams with Superior Pak to offer electric truck

This year’s Waste Expo Australia on October 3-4 will see the launch of an operational IVECO ACCO waste truck powered by battery electric power.

A joint project between waste body equipment manufacturer, Superior Pak and Australian electric drivetrain manufacturer SEA Electric, will see the ACCO enter full service shortly after the expo with WM Waste Management Services.

The ACCO EV is apparently available to order directly from Superior Pak who has the exclusive distributorship for the vehicle.

As an Australian manufacturer, IVECO had the production line flexibility to provide Superior Pak and SEA Electric with a ‘glider’, essentially this is a complete cab chassis minus the driveline and associated equipment such as exhaust, fuel tanks, traditional battery boxes and related items.

Powering the truck is an electric driveline featuring 220kWh NMC batteries, which provides the vehicle with a range of approximately 250 kilometres at full GVM (up to 23.5t) along with a limited top speed of 100 kilometres per hour.

The vehicle features a 22kW on-board charger allowing the truck to be plugged-in and charged from any three-phase power source. Battery charging time from totally flat to full charge is approximately eight hours.

Battery longevity is calculated at 3500 charge cycles, giving it a life of over 10 years based on a single charge, five days per week. The remainder of the driveline is virtually maintenance-free.

The Waste Expo display vehicle is a special order featuring a two-in-one body incorporating an industrial cage with electric ramp for picking up white goods and similar heavy items, while at the rear is a more traditional compactor body – it will be used on a hard waste collection with the City of Casey in Melbourne.

Superior Pak Managing Director, Rob Wrigley said the main catalyst to implement a local EV program was due to the success of a similar project it was running in New Zealand, along with an increased interest in Australia for electric commercial vehicles.

“We’ve had a similar electric powered collection vehicle operating in New Zealand for some time now, and the owners are very pleased with the performance,” Rob said.

“The payback on the vehicle is attractive as is the low operating costs and lower total cost of ownership.

“So when the idea came to develop a vehicle for Australia we again looked at the IVECO ACCO platform.

“Being locally manufactured was another consideration for us in using the ACCO, as the build process was more streamlined and we could also offer the market a complete, Australian designed and built, turn-key solution,” Rob said.

SEA Electric Group Managing Director, Tony Fairweather, said that refuse collection was an ideal application for electric propulsion trucks.

“These vehicles normally operate on known fixed routes where their travel range can be managed,” Tony said.

“The work is also ‘back to base’ in nature, meaning that at the end of a route, the vehicle has completed the job and can then be fully charged before the next working day.”

“Although the ACCO EV commands a purchase premium, payback can be achieved in as little as four years,” he said.