Borough Council trials electric bin lorry

The current fleet of bin lorries contributes to over 40% of the council’s emissions.

Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council are trialling an electric refuse and recycling bin lorry this week to try and reduce the council's fossil fuels.

The Dennis e-Collect Refuse Collection Vehicle has been with the council for one week and has been collecting garden waste bins in Hinckley and Burbage.

The current fleet of bin lorries contributes to over 40% of the council’s emissions and so implementing these vehicles will be a huge step towards the council’s net-zero carbon ambitions. 

Councillor Martin Cartwright, Executive member for Climate Change at Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council said: "We are getting more used to seeing electric cars on the road but as yet not electric refuse trucks. This trial is a short one only lasting a few days but is vitally important to us as a Borough Council to see how it performs out there in real life. Further trials will take place but from what I saw this will undoubtedly be the way forward."

On a single charge, it can pick up waste from around 1,100 properties and travel to the local farm composting site.

Once the round has been completed, it will need to be recharged for seven to eight hours.

The fully electric lorry has five battery packs which will give the vehicle 300kWh of power and a 200kW electric motor.

The lorry will also be much quieter than a traditional vehicle and weigh around 26 tonnes.