Charged EVs | Big Orange goes green: UT Knoxville to deploy nine electric trucks
The University of Tennessee, Knoxville plans to deploy nine electric trucks, including a refuse truck that will be used to collect recyclable materials.
The Volterra electric refuse truck is built by McNeilus (a subsidiary of Oshkosh) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, using aluminum from Alcoa, which is not far from the UT campus.
A refuse truck is an ideal use case for electrification. The truck will spend its days in constant stop-and-go motion, lifting, compacting and hauling materials around UTK’s sprawling campus. Electric motors paired with hydraulic systems handle lift, compression and pickup along the route.
The truck’s 499 kWh battery pack delivers up to 200 miles of range, or roughly 110 “picks,” the industry term for each stop. The truck supports DC fast charging as well as overnight Level 2 charging.
UTK hasn’t specified what tasks its other 8 new EVs will be used for, but has reported that each will have a 240 kWh battery pack, which is “perfectly suited for the work they’ll do.”
The trucks feature an onboard route-planning system that calculates the most efficient path, helping drivers to stay on schedule while maximizing battery performance. Some of the new trucks support bidirectional charging, enabling them to serve as mobile power banks in the event of a power outage.
Bringing these vehicles to campus was made possible through a $3-million grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). The Student Environmental Initiatives Fund contributed $315,000 and UT Facilities Services covered the remaining costs of about $700,000.
