J&M Sanitation invests in electric refuse trucks

J&M Sanitation, a family-owned waste and recycling business serving Kuna, Idaho, announced March 2 that it has deployed two all-electric Class 8 refuse trucks to service its collection routes.

The trucks are the first battery-electric, zero-emission vehicles in Idaho, according to the company, and are two of only 10 in North America.

The trucks were designed and manufactured by Shenzhen, China-based BYD, a publicly traded company that has a U.S. office in Los Angeles and a fabrication facility in Lancaster, California.

The BYD 8R heavy-duty trucks feature the company’s proprietary electric propulsion system designed specifically for refuse collection. With 295 kilowatt hours of battery capacity, the trucks are built to support a full day’s operations. The cabs, chassis and propulsion systems were built by BYD and are equipped with 31-yard automated side-loader bodies made by Amrep, Princeton, New Jersey.

The trucks feature an all-Hardox 450 body shell that offer an exterior four-times stronger than ordinary mild steel grades, while weighing 20 percent less than a traditional refuse truck, the company says.

J&M Sanitation trucks run each weekday, each serving about 800 Kuna homes, resulting in 1,065 lifts of the arm daily and approximately 18 tons of refuse collected. Without charging, each of the trucks can return following a completed route with 18 percent remaining state of charge (SOC). J&M plans to utilize opportunity charging—plugging in during routine downtime—to maintain additional SOC throughout their routes.

“Our company made this investment to not only serve the community we love, but also preserve the community,” Chad Gordon, operation manager at J&M Sanitation, says. “We are a small, family-owned business. We care enough about our environment that we wanted to make the switch to zero-emission, electric vehicles. It is time for our industry to make changes to help preserve the natural beauty of our world. We can make a difference and we wanted to be a catalyst for change.”

“As the waste management industry seeks to provide zero-emission trucks for the communities they serve, J&M Sanitation is demonstrating with BYD that battery-electric trucks are ready to fully support their operations,” Aaron Gillmore, vice president of truck business at BYD, says. “Our trucks are hard at work every day, proving that electric is the new standard.”

BYD electric trucks operate cleaner and quieter, with fewer moving parts than carbon-burning trucks. With fewer vibrations than conventional vehicles, the BYD trucks can also provide the operator with a better driving experience, the company says.

“As a small, family-owned company, we were able to make the change from diesel to the electric waste removal vehicles long before legislation mandated the change,” J&M owner and CEO Tim Gordon says. “I want to encourage legislators from across the country and government officials from the [U.S. Department of Energy] to consider legislation that encourages other waste removal companies to make this change sooner. If a small company like ours can make the change, larger companies can too.”