Basildon Council and NRG Riverside Roll Out the First Fully Electric Food Waste Collection Fleet in the UK

Skelmersdale/July 27, 2023: NRG Riverside, the contract hire and fleet solutions provider, has delivered seven fully electric food waste trucks to Basildon Borough Council as part of an innovative contract hire agreement with full service and maintenance provision, saving the local authority over 900.000kg of CO2 over the contract's lifetime.

Basildon's first high-spec 12.5-tonne Electra eCargo with Hillend Engineering Micro XHD body went into service in April 2023, with the entire fleet operational at the beginning of July.

The vehicles have been provided on contract hire by NRG Riverside, benefiting the Council with the latest low-emission vehicle technology without requiring a large cash outlay, no risk and fixed price over the agreement term. NRG Riverside’s fleet delivery enables Basildon to run the country's first full electric food waste collection service.

The Electra eCargo Micro XHD vehicles are ideally suited to Basildon's decarbonisation targets, being the first in their type. They feature a payload of 7900 kg with 140kWh battery capacity and a range of up to 250 km. The 150 KW DC fast-charge capability means the trucks can be double-shifted and exceed their range by over 100 miles in under an hour. Having been designed with a very short wheelbase of 3330 mm makes them easy to operate and manoeuvre in busy city centres and narrow streets.

'Basildon Borough Council spent considerable time reviewing the services we offer to our community and ways to assist climate change issues within the borough. We are working hard to become a carbon net-zero authority by 2030 with a borough target of achieving carbon net-zero status by 2050,' commented Councillor Kevin Blake, Cabinet Member responsible for Carbon Reduction.

‘I am pleased that we are the first local authority to offer a zero-emission food waste collection service in the UK,’ said Russell Markstein, Chief Commercial Officer, NRG Riverside.

'We have been working in partnership with Basildon Council since 2011, when we developed a high-tech workshop together while taking on the local authority workshop staff. We helped fulfil the Council's ambitions by working with local colleges to create an apprentice scheme and recruiting local apprentices and engineers.

'We have supplied Basildon with the highest quality vehicles since we first worked together. Our arrangement started with providing the cleanest Euro V diesel trucks and equipping the entire waste collection fleet with all-electric bin lifts. Now, we have reached another milestone

by delivering the country's first municipal fully electric food waste fleet to Basildon in record time.'

Ben Smith, MD, Electra Commercial Vehicles, commented: 'The eCargo is the perfect solution to meet the requirements of the Government's new food waste collections regulations nationwide. Basildon’s new trucks are the first electric waste collection vehicles in the 12.5-tonne weight range and size. We are delighted that Basildon is the first local authority in the country to roll out a fully electric food waste collection service thanks to another of our groundbreaking zero-emissions waste platforms.'