Wisconsin’s first electric garbage trucks hit Madison streets

Collecting trash can be a messy business, but Madison’s newest garbage trucks offer a cleaner alternative. 

Two new electric trash trucks hit city streets this summer. Those vehicles are the first fully electric garbage trucks ever to be used in Wisconsin, according to city officials.

Compared to Madison’s existing diesel-powered garbage trucks, the new electric vehicles are quieter, Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said during a news conference Tuesday at the Madison location of Kriete Truck Centers.

Kriete Truck Centers is a commercial truck dealer which provided the new LRe model Mack trucks to the city.

Since electric vehicles don’t produce tailpipe emissions, the new trucks are also improving air quality in neighborhoods, Rhodes-Conway said.

“Our trash and recycling trucks hit every single block in the city of Madison,” she said. “And, you know, diesel fumes — not great for us, right? They contribute to childhood asthma. They can contribute to higher rates of heart disease.”

Madison’s trash and recycling fleet includes about 40 trucks, and the rest of those are diesel-powered.

Eventually, Madison hopes to replace more of its older trucks with electric alternatives as part of the city’s plan to reduce its carbon footprint, the mayor said.

“We have a lot of experience now with the light duty EVs,” Rhodes-Conway said. “With the heavy duty EVs … we’re still relatively new…and so we’re looking to learn from these vehicles about how they work and how well they do on our streets.”

Madison began using an electric fire truck in 2021. And 62 new fully-electric buses will roll out on Sept. 22 when the city launches a public transportation system known as bus rapid transit.

The new electric garbage trucks are more expensive up-front compared to diesel-powered models.

One of the trucks, which has an automatic side-loader, cost just over $611,000. The other truck, with a rear-loader, cost just under $544,000. That money came from Madison’s 2022 capital budget, and each of the trucks has an estimated lifespan of 10 to 15 years.

A new model of similar diesel truck costs about $346,000, according to the city.

But Rhodes-Conway says electric vehicles are saving money in the long-term by cutting down on operational costs like fuel.

“This is one of the ways in which the city of Madison is investing on the capital side to save us money on the operating side,” she said. “You may have heard, we have a little bit of a pinch in our operating budget, so anything that we can do to save us operating dollars is a win.”

Each November, Madison’s Common Council approves two separate budgets – one for capital projects and the other for operational expenditures.

Rhodes-Conway released a $418.3 million capital budget proposal last week, and she plans to submit her operations proposal to the Common Council in October.

During the Nov. 5 election, Madison voters will decide whether to approve a $22 million property tax increase. Proponents say the measure is needed so the city can close a growing operating budget shortfall while avoiding cuts to services.

Help name Madison’s new electric trash trucks

City officials are inviting the public to name the two new trucks. Name suggestions can be emailed to dropoff@cityofmadison.com before 4 p.m. on Oct. 1.

After that, people will be allowed to choose the two winning names from a list of finalists using ranked choice voting.

Punny, family-friendly ideas are welcome. But there’s no need to submit Trashy McTrashface — that one’s already on the list.