[Music playing]
This is the biggest vehicle I've ever driven. [Laughing] That's cool!
[Music playing]
Ever since I was a little kid I've wanted to drive a garbage truck with the massive robotic
arms that can just pick things up and dump it in the back. It just looked really fun. Behind me is
Utah's first 100% electric garbage truck. And Ace Recycling and Disposal has graciously allowed me
to come take it for a spin. This video is sponsored by KiwiCo. Let's get started.
[Intro]
The driver's seat is on the opposite side of where it normally is.
If Little Jerry could see me now he'll think I've definitely peaked
in my career. So first time inside of a garbage truck and there are so many
buttons in here. Take a look. And I am by no means an expert in any of this, but this
is how we control the robotic arm. We'll see how good at that I am in a second. But other
than that, everything looks pretty standard even though this is a top of the line electric vehicle.
We have our air conditioning, we have our radio. We have an emergency kill switch.
This button right here switches from an air horn to an electric horn. [Honking sound]
And then this one...air horn. [Honking sound] Whoa! This control here is actually something
special and I'll mention that in a second. There are four external cameras that we can see on this
screen. This is where we dump the garbage, side views, and rear view. And it looks like there are
a few more additional cameras in the back. One thing that I think is really interesting though
is that it does have these analog dials with a digital display behind it, which is interesting.
This electric garbage truck has a top speed of 65 miles an hour and a range...the range is a little
more complicated because we have the massive robotic arm on the side, which we'll get to in
a second. If you were to just drive in a straight line, the truck would have about a 200 mile range.
But if you're doing a lot of starting and stopping and using the robotic arm, you can get about 60
miles with 600 pickups. Speaking of which, I think it's time to try out the robotic arm. Foot on the
brake, turning the ignition. Alright, I'm nervous. Okay! So parking brake, pushing down to release.
Oh, safety first. Oh man, I'm nervous. Okay, so then I go into drive.
Oh boy. Yes! Oh boy. This is the biggest vehicle I've ever driven. Luckily we're in a big deserted
parking lot so there's not a whole lot that I could mess up. Wow, this is huge. Speed bump.
Okay, we've lined up some garbage cans over here on the side. Gotta get pretty close to
them. So I'm within like 6 feet. Literally this is my first time ever doing this.
Alright, brake. That thing just rolls forward doesn't it?
Alright, it does not stop by itself. So for the mechanical arm to operate, it is all done through
this joystick. As soon as I turn on the power takeoff it engages the hydraulic system for the
robotic arm. And so for any of these buttons to work left or right I have to pull this trigger.
I can hear the hydraulics in the back, and then I can open,
close, left, right, up and down. Okay it's go time. Trigger in. Woo! It's a big boy. Okay.
That's crazy. Oh, I'm not even close. The
brakes! Alright, and then this is...whoa!
Oh boy. You can just smash the oblivion out of those things.
It doesn't have a sensor...they're interesting. Bringing it in. Yikes. That
thing shakes the whole truck!
I'm going to go into drive.
I mean it definitely feels big and heavy. I think this thing weighs about 22,000 pounds when empty,
and when fully loaded it's around 66,000 pounds. It's got the turning radius of a garbage truck.
Let's see what the acceleration is like, after I straighten it out. So
alright, wheels are straight I think. Yeah!
That's cool. I mean it's definitely not Tesla acceleration, but you can tell there's some
battery power. The drive train actually has two gears, 0-30 and then it switches gears after 30.
Round two, let's see if we can pick up. I did it on my first try. I grabbed that container. I did
have to adjust the truck a few times. Going into reverse pulls up the rear view camera as well as
starts that beeping noise for us. Just back up. I think most garbage men can do this with the
mirrors. I have to stick my head out the window. Okay, arm out. Yes, it's working. Woo! Nice.
The lifting arm of the truck maxes out at around 900 to 1000 pounds. If there ever is a load too
heavy, the arm just won't lift it up and you'll probably get a note on your garbage bin saying
you've got to empty it yourself. But the arm is very, very strong. Once the plastic garbage bin
has been dumped inside the garbage truck, there is a hydraulic smoosher that scooches and compacts
all the trash back into the rear portion. With hundreds and hundreds of these plastic garbage
bin pick ups done every day, everything's got to get nice and compact back there.
Let's take a look underneath and see what's powering this thing. An interesting thing
about these trucks, if you notice the rear tires, one set is raised up off of the ground. Remember
that special console inside next to the dash? When this is fully loaded it weighs 66,000 pounds, and
in order to be legally street worthy it needs to be able to distribute that weight over more area,
so dropping down the rear tires allows the truck to do that. You'll see the same things on dump
trucks or cement trucks. Anything with super heavy payloads needs to protect the road underneath it.
Let's check out the inside.
That is huge. Look at the size of these hydraulic arms. That is insane.
So inside the garbage truck this is actually steel plate made out of AR 500, meaning that the inside
is 100% bulletproof. So if you're looking for a good place to hide during the zombie apocalypse,
inside a garbage truck is actually a pretty good option. It's made out of AR 500 because
the garbage truck is constantly dumping its load at a transfer facility, meaning that
there's going to be a lot of abrasive materials inside. It could be concrete, it could be rocks,
people's trash made up of who knows what. So the container needs to be made out of something that
won't erode or wear away over time, and AR 500 would definitely do the job.
With everything opened up we can get a good idea of how this works. There are
two motors back there which I'll get two in a second. Behind the cab though is the battery
pack. 642 volts worth made up of these 16 modules. We have two coolant reservoirs,
one for the motors and one for cooling the battery packs. There are over 350 kilowatt
hours of energy in the battery pack behind me, which is almost 4x what you would find in a Tesla.
It lets this machine move pretty much all day. The motors are back here. The garbage truck has two
axles and two motors. And since we have this big stilt right here, we're able to get underneath.
This motor is capable of outputting 200 horsepower, and combined with this motor back here
has over 800 pound feet of torque. It's interesting that to get access to the batteries
we have to tilt the whole cab forward. So if you forget your drink inside and it's unopened, you
would end up with quite the mess on the inside of your windshield. I'd like to see another electric
vehicle do that. The high voltage lines are the orange protected cables, the same ones I used in
my Hummer that are running to the electric motors. These ones back here are headed to the motors.
The big claw is over here on this end. It's got some rubber pads on it. And the whole thing is
run off of hydraulics. This is a big hydraulic tank right here with an electric motor, and it's
interesting that this electric motor actually has its own drive shaft to the hydraulic pump,
which then puts the liquid in the giant pistons and allows the whole bed to raise up and empty
the trash at the transfer center. And I'm going to show you exactly what that looks like, but first,
one way to make your trash can a little more fun is with KiwiCo.
Throwing away trash is more entertaining when it's a game of trasketball. KiwiCo's mission is
to provide the next generation of innovators with the tools to become creative problem solvers and
critical thinkers. KiwiCo provides monthly crates that expose kids to concepts in STEAM, you know,
science, technology, engineering, art, and math. They do this with fun monthly hands-on projects,
like this basketball trash can that has levers, hinges, and latches. Each crate
is designed by experts. My wife and I have been giving these subscriptions away to our nieces
for their birthdays and holidays. You can go to KiwiCo.com/jerryrig for 50% off your first month.
There are no long term commitments or contracts, just hands on fun for kids, teens, or even adults.
And you can pause or cancel your subscription whenever you like. The crate includes everything
that's needed, so there's no running out to get extra supplies. With kid friendly instructions
and even an educational magazine, there's plenty to do ever after the project is over.
You can help support the channel and have a whole lot of fun along the way at KiwiCo.com/jerryrig.
I'll have a link down in the description. Nothing but net. So after the trash can is full,
and the electric garbage truck has come to pick it up, what happens next? Let's go find out.
As we drive to the transfer station, you might be wondering why someone would want to make an
electric garbage truck in the first place since it's not lightweight or aerodynamic. But it's
actually the perfect vehicle to be battery powered since electric motors are way more efficient
at doing a lot of starting and stopping than gas motors are. Plus, with a set route and the
ability to charge up every night, it just makes a lot of sense. That's also why there's a big push
right now to electrify school buses. They also have predictable routes and electric vehicles
have less moving parts which means not as much maintenance. If we lived in a smaller town this
electric garbage truck would probably drive out to a landfill to dump its load. But since Salt
Lake City is pretty massive, instead we'll be pulling onto the weighing platform of the
transfer station. This particular transfer station handles about 1500 tons of waste every single day.
Once the back hatch is unlocked the bulletproof garbage container can raise high up into the air
and we can let the 20,000 pounds of compressed, smooshed up trash
right out onto the transfer station floor.
At this point we have two options: either someone grabs a broom and dustpan,
or we can call in a huge front loader to transfer the trash
into big semi trucks that haul everything away to a landfill.
It's a pretty cool process. As they load up the awaiting semis,
one thing I have noticed is that there always seems to be a lot of smooshing going on.
If you enjoyed this video seeing where your trash goes, let me know with a thumbs up.
It's right down there next to the subscribe button.
And there you have it. Utah's first all electric garbage truck. I'm super excited
where the future's headed. Leave any questions you have down in the comments below. Come
hang out with me on Instagram and Twitter. And thanks a ton for watching. I'll see you around.