Mack Electric LR

[kscarbel2]

Volvo Group  /  April 22, 2019

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[kscarbel2]

 

[kscarbel2]

Volvo Demonstrates Mack LR Electric for New York City

Jim Park, Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT)  /  January 9, 2020

Mack Trucks pulled back the curtain Jan. 9 on the first working Mack LR Electric, a fully electric version of the LR refuse model first revealed in May 2019. The truck will be delivered to the New York City Department of Sanitation's Brooklyn North 1 garage before the end of January, where it will undergo real-world testing and evaluation on several selected collection routes. Validation testing is scheduled to begin in in the second quarter.

"The Mack LR Electric demonstrates Mack’s leadership in powertrain innovation, bringing clean, quiet propulsion to the refuse application, which is one of the toughest in heavy-duty trucking due to the harsh operating environments and number of starts and stops during a shift," said Jonathan Randall, Mack Trucks senior vice president, North American sales and marketing. 

DSNY is the world’s largest sanitation department, collecting more than 12,000 tons of refuse and recyclables each day throughout five boroughs with 6,300 miles of streets and a population of about 8.6 million people. Roughly 99% of DSNY's heavy-duty collection fleet is Mack equipment.

“New York City has a goal to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions 80% by the year 2035," said Rocky DiRico, DSNY deputy commissioner. "DSNY along with our more than 6,000 vehicles will play a major role as we push toward that goal."

The department is looking at a variety of technologies and will be the first Mack customer to test the LR Electric model. DSNY will evaluate several vehicle performance metrics, including operating range, payload capacity, regenerative braking performance, and the overall functionality of a fully electric refuse vehicle in its operation.

Randall told reporters a second Mack LR Electric vehicle is in development and will be delivered to Republic Systems in North Carolina later this year. 

During the demonstration at the Mack Customer Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Mack LR Electric was piloted around a test course set up on Mack’s test track and skid-pad, which simulated the real-world stop-and-go driving found in refuse applications. The test course also featured tight turns and an area to reverse the vehicle, highlighting the truck’s maneuverability.

Powered by Mack’s integrated electric powertrain, the Mack LR Electric features two 130-kW motors that deliver a combined 496 peak horsepower and 4,051 lb.-ft. of torque available from zero rpm. A two-speed Mack Powershift transmission harnesses that power and puts it to the ground through Mack’s proprietary S522R 52,000-lb. rear axles. The truck features four NMC lithium-ion batteries (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) that are charged via a 50-kW, SAE J1772-compliant charging system. All accessories on the Mack LR Electric model are electrically driven through 12-, 24- and 600-volt circuits.

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[kscarbel2]

Volvo shows off electric Mack garbage truck, due to hit New York City streets later this year

Jon Harris, The Morning Call  /  January 9, 2020

Born and raised in Queens, Rocky DiRico is a self-described old-timer, someone with a thick growl of a New York accent who started turning wrenches as a truck mechanic with the New York City Department of Sanitation in 1978.

He became a procurement supervisor shortly after, rising through the ranks to deputy commissioner in 2001, a post he still holds today.

DiRico found himself 90 miles west on Thursday, laying his eyes on what he considers “the most exciting” product development he’s seen during his career with the department. Then he got to drive it, taking the first lap in a fully electric version of Mack’s LR refuse model at the test track at the Mack Customer Center in Allentown.

While the truck was first unveiled last May, Thursday was the first public demonstration of the electric vehicle, which is quiet like a Tesla but still features two motors that deliver a combined 496 horsepower — all while spitting out zero emissions.

“It’s unbelievable,” DiRico said as he exited the vehicle, repeating the word, “unbelievable” one more time. “It’s so quiet.”

While DiRico said the electric truck should make its way to the city by Monday, the long-anticipated vehicle will begin testing in the second quarter. There, DiRico said, his workers plan on “beating the hell” out of it, a tough proving ground in a department that — each day — collects 10,500 tons of residential and institutional garbage along with 1,700 tons of recyclables. The truck also will help the department, which has a fleet of 6,000 trucks, many of them Macks, as it aims to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2035.

“To have a pure electric truck like this, I never thought it would ever happen in my career,” DiRico said.

For Mack Trucks, which employs more than 2,000 in the Lehigh Valley, its first electric truck shows how the manufacturer is trying to remain ahead of the curve, staying on top of advances in technology as the transportation industry changes, said Jonathan Randall, Mack’s senior vice president of North American sales and marketing.

“I can’t even tell you in 10 or 15 years what the business model may look like,” Randall said. “All we know is people are going to need equipment to get the daily work done. We believe strongly that electric is one of those solutions that’s going to have longevity and is going to stick, and so we need to be prepared for that.”

The first electric truck, Randall said, was put together at the Mack Customer Center in conjunction with the company’s engineers in North Carolina.

The New York City Department of Sanitation will be Mack’s first customer to test the electric truck. Randall said a second truck will go into service later this year with waste giant Republic Services.

Once Mack and its customers are comfortable with the product, following some likely adjustments and tweaks, that’s when the company would look at producing the truck at the assembly plant in Lower Macungie Township, he said.

“At some point, a portion of what we build is going to be combustion-diesel and a portion is going to be electric,” Randall said. “That grows over time as the technology becomes more and more commercially viable.”

Steve Tam, vice president of Americas Commercial Transportation Research Co., said about 60% of the vehicles in the refuse industry are powered by natural gas, though electric could make sense, too.

Roy Horton, Mack’s director of product strategy, went over several of those reasons Thursday.

For one, Horton said, garbage trucks are constantly starting and stopping during their run. The Mack electric truck has two-stage regenerative braking, in which the operator lifts their foot off the gas pedal to stop the vehicle while the kinetic energy lost during deceleration is converted to stored energy in the battery.

That also leads to less wear and tear on the brakes, which could help reduce operating costs for customers, Horton said. In the refuse industry, he added, the trucks also return to the garage every night, making it easy to recharge.

Tam said virtually all truck manufacturers in the domestic market are developing at least one electric model, cutting their teeth on the technology and learning the existing capabilities.

A larger challenge, Tam said, will be in long-haul trucks, which could be one of the last segments to see battery electric vehicles because of the battery requirements for lengthy journeys. Based on current technology, Tam said, a battery would weigh around 20,000 pounds to be capable of long-haul application, which would sacrifice payload.

As for DiRico, he said he can’t wait to get the Mack electric truck — with a copper-colored Bulldog hood ornament on the front — back to the city to show it off, already envisioning an event featuring the truck on Earth Day in April. The department plans to base the Mack LR Electric at its Brooklyn North 1 garage and test it on a local collection route, evaluating operating range, payload capacity and braking performance.

While DiRico has long since left his first job in the department turning wrenches, his two sons now work there — one as a warehouse manager, the other as a mechanic.

Who knows what technology Mack and others will be rolling out by the time they become old-timers.

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[kscarbel2]

You all should e-mail Roy Horton, Mack’s director of product strategy, at roy.horton@volvo.com and ask him what his Mack brand "product strategy" is. Some discussion topics might include "Super-Liner", "big engine" and "ranks 6th".

[james j neiweem]

Now all they have to do is purty that ugly pug up a bit.

[CaptainCrutch]

12 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

You all should e-mail Roy Horton, Mack’s director of product strategy, at roy.horton@volvo.com and ask him what his Mack brand "product strategy" is. Some discussion topics might include "Super-Liner", "big engine" and "ranks 6th".

I'd love for them to bring the Superliner back, even if it's the Australian model. A classic looking Mack would sell well I think. Might just email him asking if that's the idea.

Other than that I see electricity as the future of powertrains for all vehicle, with some Hydrogen powered vehicle mixed in but being a little less popular. Nice to see Mack jumping in early. I hope i get to see a test mule like this rolling around from the Hagerstown plant sometime soon...

[fjh]

21 hours ago, kscarbel2 said:

You all should e-mail Roy Horton, Mack’s director of product strategy, at roy.horton@volvo.com and ask him what his Mack brand "product strategy" is. Some discussion topics might include "Super-Liner", "big engine" and "ranks 6th".

I think its pretty evident we have No say! 

[kscarbel2]

 

[JoeH]

Interesting!

I laugh at "zero emissions". You don't get movement without forcing energy from something. That something will always produce a biproduct, whether it's coal's co2 and ash, or nuclear waste. Then you have the batteries to dispose of, which will likely mostly be recyclable...

Waste collection is a good test track for electric trucks. It does make sense for such a localized use, but I wonder how well they will hold up? Maybe they'll glitch out like Toyotas Prius and just accelerate and the driver can't stop?  That'd be awfully destructive at 70,000 lbs with 4,000 lbs of torque!! That sucker will keep going till it encounters enough resistance that the tires just sit there spinning on blacktop!

[kscarbel2]

A Tour of Volvo's Allentown, Pennsylvania Mack Museum

Heavy Duty Trucking (HDT)  /  January 14, 2019

To correspond with the launch of the first fully electric LR refuse truck, curators at the Mack Museum in Allentown, Pennsylvania set up a display of vintage waste hauling trucks.

Here are a few samples:  https://www.truckinginfo.com/348676/a-tour-of-macks-allentown-pennsylvania-museum?photo=348677

[cncFireman]

Like them or hate them EVs are coming to all forms of transportation. If you don't get on board as an auto maker you will get left behind. They will not be the solution to every transportation need. 

[CaptainCrutch]

On 1/12/2020 at 8:20 PM, JoeH said:

Interesting!

I laugh at "zero emissions". You don't get movement without forcing energy from something. That something will always produce a biproduct, whether it's coal's co2 and ash, or nuclear waste. Then you have the batteries to dispose of, which will likely mostly be recyclable...

Waste collection is a good test track for electric trucks. It does make sense for such a localized use, but I wonder how well they will hold up? Maybe they'll glitch out like Toyotas Prius and just accelerate and the driver can't stop?  That'd be awfully destructive at 70,000 lbs with 4,000 lbs of torque!! That sucker will keep going till it encounters enough resistance that the tires just sit there spinning on blacktop!

As well, just speaking statistically, EVs are less likely to have an accident than gasoline powered car. I think I read a study that showed EVs drove 4x as long without an accident than the average ICE car. Now with an EV right now you get into an accident and you total the vehicle, but that's less because the vehicle is beyond repair it's more that the repairs are so expensive.

That and based on what I've researched the "glitchy" Toyotas were the result of the pedal itself getting stuck down and less of a software glitch. My dad has an older Tundra and says it happens sometimes but all you need to do is give it a little kick and it stays unstuck for a while. Don't get me wrong, car computers still glitch from time to time, but its significantly more rare than some teenager ramming into the back of a stopped semi because they can't even wait to get to a red light to text their friend, let alone waiting until they've parked their car.

Either way EVs are the future, and like or not, Mack has to hop on board with this before they get left behind and shut down by Volvo. Mack is also one of the first ones to jump on this too, so I hope they become a leader in the industry again, even if it means this change is needed.

[james j neiweem]

Volvo tells Mack when to hop and Mack says how high.

Edited January 17, 2020 by james j neiweem