Two small rigids find homes as US van goes on the line
A big week for Australian alternative propulsion truckmaker SEA Electric is capped off with Melbourne’s City of Yarra showing off its light rigid rubbish and recycling tipper.
According to the council, it will be used five days a week for hard rubbish collections.
“Electric vehicles are the way of the future,” mayor Danae Bosler says.
“A handful of councils have electric waste trucks but our new electric tipper is an Australian first.
“Yarra Council’s assets and facilities are powered by 100 per cent renewable energy, meaning this will be a genuinely zero-emissions vehicle.
“We’re also exploring how we can transition to electric rubbish and recycling trucks over the next five years.
“This is just one is just one of the ways we’re acting in response to the climate emergency.
“For now at least, our electric tipper means one less noisy, polluting truck on our roads.
“As a council we are in a unique position to use our purchasing power to make sustainable choices, and we’re proud to be supporting the local electric vehicle industry.”
Earlier, the Salvation Army’s Salvo Stores were the recipient of its first electric pantech, valued at $50,000, courtesy of the manufacturers charity, SEA Foundation.
“The SEA Foundation was created by the shareholders of SEA Electric. An Australian automotive technology company, that has commercialised 100 per cent electric power-system technology for the urban delivery vehicle sector,” SEA Electric group MD Tony Fairweather says.
“In doing so, we are removing many diesel polluting vans and trucks from around the globe and replacing them with zero emission alternatives.
“Here at SEA Electric, we not only want to improve the impact on the environment, but also to improve the lives of those within our community.
“We’re excited to donate this 100 per cent electric vehicle to the Salvation Army, which will assist them in their future charitable endeavours.”
Read how East Waste goes forward with its electric compactor program, here
The pantech, the first electric vehicle in its fleet, will be put to use in Salvo Stores’ hefty pick-up and delivery logistics task.
“The donation of this vehicle will allow us to be more versatile in the way we respond to last minute home collection requests and with the increase in donation volume in the wake of the Marie Kondo craze, it couldn’t have come at a better time,” Salvos Stores GM of operations Neil Lund says.
The week kicked off for SEA Electric with a headline development in its US initiative, with the first Ford F-59 electric van in production at Ford’s Detroit Chassis Plant in Michigan.
The F-59 EV is being built on a Morgan Olson Walk-in Van body and will be deployed in the northern autumn for delivery routes in the greater Detroit area with a “leading package delivery company”, SEA says.
The van will be powered by a SEA Drive 120b power-system and boasts 150kW of continuous power and 250kW maximum power, and 2500Nm maximum torque, with a range put at up to 220 miles (350km).
Battery charge time is put at four to six hours using a 19.2kW single phase 240V on board charger.
“We anticipate a very successful trial which will lead to substantial follow-on orders from fleet customers within the next 6-12 months,” SEA Electric regional director – North America David Brosky says.
The bodybuilder notes there is demand in the US for such a vehicle.
“We see a growing interest, within our portfolio of walk-in step van customers to include electrified work trucks within their fleets,” Morgan Olson director of business development John Knudtson is quoted as saying.
“We’re pleased to be working with SEA Electric on this new Ford F59 electric chassis.
“In the past, we’ve built numerous step van bodies on various alternative powertrains and are pleased with how our body has adapted to the new Sea Electric platform. “