Hungary is developing electric garbage trucks

A project to convert lorries, garbage trucks and trailers from diesel to electric power using a technical solution developed by a Hungarian company is attracting a great deal of interest throughout Europe.

In 2010, a call for tenders was published for electrically powered garbage trucks. Prior to that, development had started at the University of Debrecen, where racing cars were started to be powered by electric motors. During the call for proposals, it was suggested that the process, which had previously only been used in the case of smaller vehicles, could be tested on larger vehicles. Four years later, in 2014, the solution was patented. This patent was purchased by Electromega Ltd.

“Electromega Ltd. was established in 2009 with the purpose of utilizing its expertise in electric drive in the research and development of the electric drive of commercial vehicles,” writes their official page.

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The challenges and solutions of garbage trucks

Compared to standard internal combustion engines, this change offers one of the biggest energy savings, which translates into cost savings on the operational side, wrote napi.hu. For garbage trucks, this change means that torque is immediately available for frequent starts, and energy is fed back into the batteries during braking.

“Thanks to the generator, the battery is recharged when the brakes are applied, which is particularly beneficial for a refuse truck because it is energy efficient, stopping 600 to 700 times every few metres during a shift,” Ruben Bántó, managing director of the company told Budapest Business Development Centre explained.