RENAULT TRUCKS DELIVERS A D WIDE Z.E. TO LYON METROPOLE

On Monday, 17 June 2019, Renault Trucks CEO Bruno Blin handed Thierry Philip, Lyon Metropole Vice President and head of environment, health and well-being in the city, the keys to a 100% electric refuse collection vehicle.

Renault Trucks is assisting Lyon Metropole with its plans to diversify the energy of its fleet of refuse collection vehicles by providing this 26-tonne Range D Wide Z.E., the first of the second generation of Renault Trucks electric trucks.  Made in the manufacturer’s Blainville-Sur-Orne plant in Normandy, the vehicle will be put into service in Meyzieu within the Lyon metropolitan area, from June 2019.

For Renault Trucks, electromobility is the answer to the problematic issue of air quality and noise pollution in urban areas and one of the answers to global CO2 emissions. Bruno Blin emphasised: “Electric mobility is at the core of the energy strategy we have implemented to meet EU regulations aimed at significantly reducing the CO2 emissions of vehicles over 16 tonnes*”

Refuse collection is an application for which electrical technology is particularly well suited.

* -15% by 2025 and -30% by 2020.

The operating cycles of refuse collection vehicles include a great deal of stopping and restarting (300 to 800 times for each collection round), resulting in high fuel consumption and significant dust and particle emissions linked to the rapid wear of the braking system.

As electric vehicles mainly use their engines to slow down, use of brakes and the production of related emissions are both reduced. For a Euro VI truck, particulate emissions linked to abrasion (the wear of tyres and brakes) are higher than emissions linked to fuel use.

The 26-tonne Renault Trucks D Wide Z.E. features an electric engine in the wheelbase, providing the interface between the truck and its equipment. The vehicle has been converted by Faun Environnement, who coupled a hydraulic pump to the standard interface in order to power the refuse collection system. Faun Environnement optimised both the bodywork and its mass to compensate for the weight of the batteries. The bodywork specialist also altered the hydraulic circuit to reduce noise levels and soundproofed the rear section to confine the noise created by falling waste to within the trailer. These changes have enabled noise levels to be reduced by 3 decibels.

Developed with assistance from the French Environment & Energy Management Agency (ADEME), this Range D Wide Z.E. refuse collection truck is the first pre-production vehicle of the Renault Trucks range of electric trucks, which is due to be launched onto the market at the end of 2019.