Case study: Canada’s first electric community waste-collection truck hits the road

Summary

University Endowment Lands (UEL) has made history by being the first Canadian community to put an electric waste-collection truck on the road.  

After doing some homework and getting community buy-in, UEL added a Mack Electric Automated Side Loader with a 264-kWh battery to its fleet. The truck’s charging infrastructure, designed to reduce peak demand usage, is further offset by a solar PV array.  

The community loves to see the quiet truck making its way along its routes, leaving no loud noise or diesel fumes in its wake. Saving UEL $6,000 a year in fuel costs alone, the truck is well on its way to paying for itself in the estimated timeframe of twelve years. 

Residents love to see the truck around. It’s so quiet as it goes down the road, and adopting electric technology and greenhouse gas emissions reductions are really important to our community. —Will Emo, Manager, University Endowment Lands

Quick stats

• The first electric community garbage truck to be used in Canada  
• Cost offset by a $100,000 rebate from a federal government incentive (iMHZEV: Incentives for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Zero-Emission Vehicles)
• About 5,000 litres/year of diesel fuel avoided, saving $6,000/year
• Up to 19.5 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions eliminated annually
• Significantly lower maintenance costs  
• Vehicle charging network includes a 27-kW PV array to offset hydro demand

Background

University Endowment Lands (UEL) is an unincorporated community of nearly 5,000 people in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia.  

UEL carries out its own waste collection, with two trucks in service. As the trucks approached the end of their lifecycles, UEL decided to explore purchasing an electric model to collect waste.  

With UEL’s direction and sustainability strategy aligned with CleanBC goals of reducing emissions by 40 percent by 2030, fleet electrification was already a long-term project for the community. UEL started by electrifying light-duty and specialized equipment before turning to medium- and heavy-duty vehicles. It has already electrified much of its fleet, notably a pick-up truck, a Class 3 dump truck, and outdoor maintenance equipment like lawn mowers and leaf blowers. 

The Challenge

Already strongly committed to lowering emissions through fleet electrification, UEL needed to find a way to add an electric garbage truck to its fleet—still a pretty new technology—without sacrificing reliability. If charging the truck went wrong, or if the truck broke down or needed to go in for maintenance, there would be no waste collection.  

The other challenge was financial. Although electric garbage trucks save money in the long term, they cost about twice as much up-front as conventional ones. Doing the studies, figuring out the budget and financing, and getting internal buy-in were all key.

Approach

Although UEL was ready to replace one of its diesel refuse-collection trucks with an electric model as early as 2018, it decided to wait for an optimal vehicle to come onto the market.

Taking things slowly allowed UEL to line everything up for successful integration of the electric waste-collection truck. The approach UEL took was two-fold: making sure institutional buy-in and financing were in place; and making sure the right infrastructure was in place for the truck’s arrival.  

Financial/institutional readiness

UEL built a business case clearly showing the benefits of an electric waste-collection truck to get buy-in from finance, operators and other staff. With the entire community on board, UEL explored financing options and rebates and saw it would be able to benefit from a federal government rebate (Incentive for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Zero-Emission Vehicles, or iMHZEV) that was available at the time.  

Physical infrastructure readiness

UEL started with a power study for its maintenance yard to establish a full electrification strategy. With this done, it constructed a multi-use shelter with a carport for charging the truck. The truck’s charger is a Terra DC Wallbox (19kW). UEL chose this lower-power charger because it works well for vehicles parked for longer periods of time, optimizing power usage to avoid peak-demand times.  

In keeping with UEL’s commitment to using renewable energy, the multi-use shelter includes a 27-kW solar PV array to further reduce the peak demand from charging a fleet of EVs. Finally, the charger was integrated into UEL’s ChargePoint CMS so it could track the truck’s energy usage and charging status.  

In 2023, UEL bought the demo model of the 2022 Mack Electric Automated Side Loader, with a 264-kWh battery—one of the first electric waste-collection trucks available on the Canadian market. With this type of EV still relatively untested, UEL decided to continue using a smaller diesel truck as a back-up. Each truck would run three days per week, alternating curbside waste and park collection throughout the week.

Barriers

Up-front cost barriers:

• Electric waste-collection trucks cost about twice as much up-front as conventional models.  
• Charging infrastructure presents another up-front cost. In this case it totaled $30,000 (including some necessary infrastructure upgrades).

Careful budgeting and planning along with taking advantage of a federal government incentive enabled UEL to finance purchasing the truck and install the charging infrastructure.

Technical barriers:

• The electric Mack waste-collection truck has an identical chassis and cabin to the diesel vehicle that operators are already very familiar with, but there are some differences in driving the truck. For example, the electric model has a regenerative braking system.  
• A defective part caused problems with the truck’s transmission when it first arrived. The part was under warranty and Mack replaced it.  

UEL made sure that operators had ample training so they would be comfortable driving the truck. With the truck under extended warranty, any repairs or routine maintenance is done by the dealer. This was another big selling point to operating and maintenance staff.  

Results

• Data from the truck’s first year of operations confirms the truck is on track to “pay for itself” as planned. The study on total cost of ownership (TCO) estimated a payback period of 12 years; after one year of operation costs and data analyzed, the electrification benefits and savings forecasted have been confirmed.
• Residents love how quiet and clean the truck is and feel that it aligns with community values.
• Operators are enjoying driving the truck, reporting that it’s nicer to drive with fewer vibrations and no air/noise pollution.
• Maintenance staff appreciate the truck’s significantly lower maintenance requirements. 

Image of the garbage truck for the University Endowment Lands

Benefits

The benefits of integrating an electric waste-collection truck into UEL’s fleet have been multifold. 

Cost savings:  

• The electricity required to power the truck is about 13 MWh per year, which cost about $1,700 in 2024. In comparison, diesel costs for a conventional truck are about $7,500/year. The net result is $6,000 in savings per year.  
• Electricity costs are also lowered by the charging station’s PV solar array.
• Maintenance hours/costs are almost nil. Operators love that all they need to do is plug the truck in and go home at the end of the day. As the truck’s powertrain is under extended warranty, it can be brought into the dealership when needed, taking another load off maintenance staff.  

Health/social equity benefits:

• Electric trucks increase worker health and safety. In conventional trucks, operators face the highest exposure to diesel exhaust, a non-issue in an electric vehicle.  
• Decreased noise pollution and fewer vibrations also make the work environment of an electric truck healthier and more comfortable.
• The truck aligns with community values. UEL residents want to do their part to lower emissions, and they see the truck as part of these efforts.

Environmental benefits:

• Running one electric waste-collection truck means approximately 5,000 litres/year of diesel fuel avoided.  
• This means greenhouse gas emissions amounting to 19.5 tCO2e/year have been eliminated.

Lessons learned 

• First, get internal buy-in from finance and operational staff: Do the studies and present a great business case showing all the savings and benefits of adding an electric waste-collection truck to your fleet.
• Plan, budget and leverage any government rebates or carbon credits to deal with the higher up-front costs of purchasing an electric waste-collection truck.
• Do the research to get the vehicle and charging infrastructure that are right for your fleet.
• Have good change management practices in place so operators readily adopt the new technology when the vehicle arrives. In this case, operators faced a small learning curve with using the truck’s regenerative braking system, but they had ample training and could see big benefits clearly on the horizon. 
• Have a back-up plan. With the EV still a relatively new piece of kit, keeping one diesel truck in the fleet made sense for this community.