After a year and a half of preliminary field testing with excellent results, Volvo Trucks is now launching an upgrade of the world’s first hybrid refuse truck.
The upgraded vehicle is now being released with new components and software to be tested by Veolia Environmental Services in central London.
“Up to 30 per cent lower fuel consumption, low emissions and a low noise level make this hybrid a very attractive choice. That’s why we’re keen to test and develop the technology in partnership with Volvo Trucks, with whom we have developed a very strong working relationship,” comments Rob Stubbs, fleet director at Veolia, London and the UK’s leading waste management provider. The company has ordered the new refuse truck.
The new truck is an upgraded version of the trucks field-tested in Stockholm and Gothenburg, Sweden over the past eighteen months. Like these trucks, the new refuse truck is what is known as a parallel hybrid. This means it has two separate energy sources, one for diesel and one for electricity, which can be used either separately or together. The benefit of this is that each energy source can be used where it is most fuel-efficient: the electric motor at low revs and the diesel engine at high revs.
