Chicago’s garbage has gotten a dose of energy tech innovation. On Tuesday Silicon Valley startup Motiv Power Systems announced that the company has delivered what it calls the first all-electric garbage truck in the U.S. to Chicago.
The garbage truck is now being used on residential garbage and recycling routes of up to 60 miles, and the company says it’s saving the city of Chicago 2,688 gallons of fuel a year. Yeah, it’s a drop in the bucket, but the truck could be the first of potentially 20 that Motiv Power Systems sends to Chicago over the next five years. The entire five-year deal is worth $13.4 million and the contract was aided by a Department of Energy grant to Chicago.
Beyond reducing fuel use, the electric garbage truck has the added benefit of being super quiet, which comes in handy for all those early morning residential garbage pickup routes. The electric garbage truck was built off of the type of garbage truck that the city already uses (a Loadmaster 20 cubic yard rear loader) and the chassis was made by Crane Carrier.
Motiv Power Systems, founded in 2009 and based in Foster City, California, offers fleet owners a mix-and-match of batteries and motors — as well as electrical and communication systems — that can create electric trucks at any size. Motiv Power Systems CEO and co-founder Jim Castelaz told us a few years ago that much of the company’s innovation lies in a set of algorithms and adapters for managing the flow of power between the batteries, generators, motors and other components and providing real-time feedback about the battery and vehicle’s performance.
In addition to garbage trucks, Motiv Power Systems has also been building all-electric buses for a school in the San Joaquin Valley of California. That deal was partly backed by a California state grant. The buses were built on a Ford E450 chassis, have a range of up to 100 miles and can hold between 18 and 25 passengers.
The startup just closed a $7.3 million round this summer, led by Colorado-based Magness Investment Group (fund of rancher and cable magnate Gary Magness) and the company is hiring.



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