The City of Fremantle in Western Australia has demonstrated its commitment to sustainability through the trial of a new electric-powered rubbish truck.
EVie the EV is working the streets of Fremantle throughout November as part of the trial to assess the performance of electric vehicles in local conditions.
Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said if the trial was successful it could pave the way for the City’s entire waste collection fleet to go electric.
“Being a zero carbon council is one of the key commitments in our One Planet strategy,” Mayor Pettitt said.
“A normal rubbish trucks uses about 500 litres of diesel fuel and produces more than 1.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every week.
“At the moment the EVie will be charged using mains power, but there’s the potential for electric trucks to be charged using 100 per cent renewable energy in future.
“If we can do that it would avoid around 68 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year by replacing just one of our rubbish trucks with an electric vehicle.
“The electric trucks are also cheaper to run – which will deliver savings for ratepayers – and they’re much quieter, which is great news for people who like a morning sleep in.”