The small British town of Hudderland was the focus of electric car technology in the UK as it fielded what could be the world’s first garbage truck collector running on fuel from trash.
The leccy vehicle is actually a modified 3.5 ton Smith Edison Ford Transit that has been handling trash collection for the municipality. The van can be completely charged in eight hours and can run for about 100 miles.
The electric van, running on 40 kWh lithium ion batteries, collects rubbish from around 25 split bins located in central Huddersfield. The garbage van has a top speed of 50 mph.
EIW’s or Energy from Waste Stations has been installed by the community to power up this vehicle. The EIWs convert trash into energy by burning and converting it to electricity. The stations can provide the energy needed by the van to go its route the following day.
The EIWs also push additional power to the National Grid everyday. The extra 10 megawatts are all derived from the burned trash. Today, only one EIW station is capable of docking the garbage collection van for recharging.
In the United States, 17% of the garbage is being burned and converted to electricity. Fifty five per cent are being disposed in landfills while the rest are recovered and recycled.
Some experts are in doubt how environmental friendly is the process at Hudderland since suphur, nitrogen, and carbon compounds are the know byproducts of burning rubbish. But, this green Ford truck is cool, none the less!