Māngere roads are less polluted thanks to three new electric tipper trucks being used on the Central Interceptor project.
In a first of its kind move for New Zealand, the big blue trucks were unveiled, with Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board chair Tauanu'u Bakulich in the audience.
He says the trucks can each carry 13 tonnes and have 200km range.
“These trucks are powered by a single battery and charging takes 90 minutes, or 10 minutes to swap out batteries. The best thing is that they produce about 80 per cent less carbon dioxide the diesel trucks, so our streets and environment are cleaner for it.”
Since January, the trucks have been transporting excavated material from tunnel and shaft sites to Puketutu Island, where Watercare is rehabilitating a former quarry.
“The trucks will provide carbon savings and residents living alongside some of our 16 construction sites will benefit from having less noise,” Bakulich says.
Imported from China, the trucks were sent to Rotorua to have tipper bodies installed before starting on the Central Interceptor project.
Being delivered by Ghella Abergeldie, the company received $500,000 in co-funding from the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority under the Government's Low Emission Transport Fund.
Over the next four years, the trucks will transport 66,000 tonnes of spoil, reduce massive amounts of emissions, and save about 50,000 litres of diesel.
You can see video about the trucks here, and see the track of the 14.7km Central Interceptor, which will improve Auckland waterways by reducing wet-weather overflows, here.
