Waiheke Island gets into the fast lane of zero waste with the arrival of Auckland Council’s first zero-emissions electric vehicle for roadside rubbish and recycling collections.
The island's Isuzu NQR begins collecting rubbish and recycling on Monday 14 September. Two more electric trucks should be delivered within the next year after delays due to COVID-19.
Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says the new vehicle will help Auckland work towards its climate change goals.
“Vehicle emissions make up more than 40 per cent of Auckland’s total carbon emissions, so every vehicle we replace with electric will help us reduce emissions and increase the sustainability of our region.
“As well as the environmental benefits, EVs are also cheaper to run, easier to maintain and less noisy than conventional trucks.”
Cath Handley, Waiheke Local Board Chair says, “Waiheke Island, with its low distances, is a good match for EV technology and this is another major step forward in our commitment to Electric Island Waiheke’s goal to be all-electric by 2030.
"Waiheke people are overwhelmingly in favour of having the cleanest environment possible and will be so pleased to see this truck literally moving us ahead towards a zero-waste future.”
Electric vehicles have lower running costs because electricity is cheaper than petrol and the vehicle has fewer parts to maintain under the hood. They are also quieter, which residents will appreciate first thing in the morning.
Power comes from a direct-drive permanent magnet motor producing 130 kW at peak power with a continuous rating of 100 kW. The battery parameters are 132 kW/h Li-NMC. The truck can be plugged into a standard three-phase socket at the AIMS facility and is expected to take around six hours to fully charge.
Auckland Council is exploring the wider use of electric vehicles for kerbside collections across the region, including for the kerbside food scraps service when it rolls out a couple of years from now. Papakura is also expected to have an electric truck delivered by the end of this year.
