Tacoma, Washington, secures funding to electrify solid waste truck

The city of Tacoma, Washington, recently was awarded more than $2.5 million in grants by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Washington State Department of Ecology. The city will use part of the funding to electrify one of its solid waste trucks.   

A $560,196 grant will facilitate the replacement of an aging solid waste diesel truck with a battery electric waste truck and the necessary charging infrastructure. The city currently operates a 2009 engine year diesel truck. 

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“The opportunity to replace an old diesel garbage truck with a new electric model is particularly great news for our city,” Deputy Mayor Kristina Walker says in a news release. “We need to continue transitioning city vehicles to electric models to further reduce our carbon footprint and lower air pollution in our city.”  

Lewis Griffith, Tacoma’s solid waste division manager, says the city is considering either a Battle Motors chassis with a Labrie Leach rear-loader body or a Mack chassis with a Heil rear-loader body for the electric truck.  

“This upgrade is necessary as the environmental services department is looking to reduce our overall greenhouse gas emissions,” Griffith says. “A battery electric truck will help us achieve those goals since the truck will not emit any emissions at all.” 

Apart from emissions reduction, Griffith says other benefits of switching to an electric truck include noise reduction and reduced maintenance costs attributed to oil changes. 

“Diesel and CNG [compressed natural gas] trucks emit quite a bit of noise when the engine is operating,” he says. “An electric truck does not have an internal combustion engine … reducing the noise you would normally have [when] operating the engine.” 

Some city officials have brought up concerns related to battery charge, overall battery life and charging infrastructure. Griffith says the trucks can operate approximately eight-to-10-hour shifts, but this does not account for the city’s many hills, which could result in lower operation time. The charging infrastructure is a costly investment, and space in the city’s truck parking lot is limited; however, Griffith says Tacoma is researching these concerns with manufacturers.  

The city has already started electrifying its solid waste fleet, with three in-service electric pickup trucks and nine more on the way, as well as an electric forklift due early next year. There are no current plans to transition to an entirely electric collection fleet. Griffith says electric trucks are more expensive than CNG trucks, and the city of Tacoma does not have the budget to make a full transition currently.  

Tacoma’s solid waste utility provides curbside service to more than 58,500 residential and commercial customers and has an 89-truck fleet. Other services include recycling and food and yard waste services, as well as self-haul options for waste, recycling, yard waste and household hazardous waste disposal at the Tacoma Recovery & Transfer Center.