Portland, Maine-based Ecomaine announced that the company has purchased all-electric waste hauling trucks from Canada-based Lion Electric Company. The trucks will be used to replace two diesel-powered vehicles that transport waste material from Ecomaine’s waste-to-energy plant to its landfill.
Ecomaine announced that the investment will make the company the first in the nation to employ all-electric waste hauling vehicles that are powered by its own waste-to-energy operations. The fuel for these trucks will ultimately be the trash that it collected from its 70 member communities.
“This presents a unique opportunity for Ecomaine—and Maine, as a whole—to serve as a real leader in this emerging technology,” Ecomaine CEO Kevin Roche says. “The fact that we are using trucks to haul waste that are also powered by waste really closes the loop on the story of Maine’s trash. And since waste-to-energy generates 10 times more electricity than a landfill, our role as both the supplier and the user of this power is magnified even more.”
“This is a real win-win for Ecomaine,” Ecomaine board member Mike Shaw says. “To have Ecomaine pilot this technology and to research its application on behalf of all 70 of our communities allows us to mutually benefit from that knowledge, rather than each town going it alone.”
The purchase of the trucks was made possible in large part by a combined grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Diesel Emissions Reduction Act program and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. The grant, combined with funds matched by Ecomaine, allowed the company to secure the two electric trucks from the Lion Electric Company.
Ecomaine estimated that it would save approximately 75 percent on fuel costs over six years when comparing diesel to the amount of electricity it would use from its waste-to-energy plant. Additionally, the new trucks boast zero-emission features and will require fewer mechanical parts to maintain.
Ecomaine expects to take receipt of the vehicles near the end of 2020.
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