– Use and Experience of Electric Vehicles for Waste Collection

In line with the Clean Vehicles Directive (EU) 2019/1161, the “Climate Protection Master Plan for Hamburg” provides for a comprehensive conversion of municipal vehicle fleets to zero-emission drive systems, which is also being implemented by SRH. Small vehicles and small commercial vehicles with storage electric drive have been successfully operated by SRH for some time, and the conversion is underway as part of new and replacement procurements. More than 170 SRH vehicles already have an electric or hybrid drive instead of an internal combustion engine. With these vehicles, local emission-free use and operation within Hamburg is already ensured at the present time. While the conversion to electric drives in the small vehicle sector is taking place without any issues, various problems can be observed with the conversion in the large waste collection vehicle sector, which must be successively eliminated.

This is primarily due to the “special mode of operation” of waste collection vehicles. The charging/fueling of these vehicles is carried out by regeneratively generated charging current from our waste incineration plants at the SRH depots and is thus climate neutral. A total of 100 charging stations are spread across nine operating sites in the city. By the end of the year, there will be 120 SRH charging stations. The future expansion of the smart charging infrastructure at all SRH sites will be carried out with funding from other municipal companies and funding that has already been successfully obtained.