The intermunicipal company Igean, which is responsible for waste collection in 28 municipalities of the province of Antwerp, has two electric garbage collection trucks Scania P230E 6 × 2*4NB 17N with a Terberg building purchased. The first of both vehicles was recently taken into use.
Igean is therefore the first Flemish intermunicipal company for waste management that opts for electric drive. “We are committed to sustainability and believe in electrification of the fleet as one of the solutions to come to CO2 neutrality. We want to be a precursor in that, but we naturally work with tax money and so the choice must also be economically responsible,” emphasizes Wouter Meersmans, director of material cycle and waste management.
Before purchasing, Igean has carried out a thorough cost analysis. According to Wouter Meersmans, the TCO of the two electric scanias will be the same within eight years to those of their diesel equivalents. “In the coming months we will draw the necessary lessons to assess whether we want to further expand the electric drive. Within one to two years, a dozen diesels must be replaced. So by that time we want to have a clear picture of the practical feasibility of electrification.”
As always with electric trucks, the specifications of the vehicle have been studied with Scania in the smallest detail. “We have chosen the P230E with a battery pack of 416 kWh and a capacity of 230 kW. This combination should be sufficient for all our journeys, both in winter and summer. To check this, we will use the two vehicles as wide as possible, both in urban and outdoor areas. 50 kW.
