This week, Commerce City, Colorado officials announced a big step towards decarbonizing its municipal operations with the launch of an all-new, all-electric residential recycling and garbage collection fleet, which is being deployed on the city’s streets as I type this.
Operating under heavy loads, in stop-and-go conditions, at low speeds, and on a predictable route, electric vehicles are well-suited to waste collection applications – especially in cities, where the average day’s work happens in well under 100 miles of driving. On top of that, their quiet power means residents with young kids and light sleepers are far less likely to be woken up at 0-dark-thirty by a rogue garbage truck driver with a Jake Brake fetish.
Commerce City officials have made significant investments in EV charging infrastructure, adding a number of DC fast charging stations to Republic Services’ Commerce City facility in support tof he goals outlined in Commerce City’s long-term Sustainability Action Plan.
They’re not alone
Commerce City, CO joins other cities like Chicago, Louisville, and Madison in adding electric refuse vehicles to their fleets – an effort spearheaded by stakeholders like Republic Services, McNeilus – who manufacture the electric trucks – the local utilities who are supporting this effort with both electrons and incentive cash, and, of course, the people of those cities who voted in the leaders making it all possible…