Electric Acco On The Road

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Diesel News Australia  /  September 2018

After being shown at an expo next week, there will be an example of Iveco’s Electric Acco on the road. The new truck will be an Australian-first, an operational Iveco Acco waste truck, not powered by traditional diesel but by battery electric power.

The 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. Superior Pak have the exclusive distributorship for the vehicle within the Australian Waste Industry.

Powering the truck is a SEA-Drive 180 electric driveline featuring 220kWh NMC (nickel manganese cobalt oxide) batteries, which provides the vehicle with a range of approximately 250km at full GVM (up to 23.5 tonnes) along with a limited top speed of 100km/h.

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 reckoned to be approximately eight hours. Battery longevity is calculated at 3,500 charge cycles.

The first truck off the production line 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. 

“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,” said Rob Wrigley, Superior Pak Managing Director. “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. The Acco is such an icon of the industry and we’re already extremely familiar working with this platform, so our choice of truck was easy.

“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.”

Iveco’s production line can 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.

“These vehicles normally operate on known fixed routes where their travel range can be managed,” said Tony Fairweather, SEA Electric Group Managing Director. “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.”

 

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