We drove Battle Motors’ awesome electric garbage truck on a racetrack
Battle Motors invited us out to Irwindale Speedway to drive its powerful electric garbage trucks around the racetrack, and we came away dreaming of quieter, cleaner neighborhoods that feel like they’re just around the corner.
Garbage trucks have been considered ripe for electrification for some time now, as the duty cycle of a garbage truck lines up very well with the strengths of electric vehicles. They do a lot of starting and stopping, which means the regenerative braking and lack of idling on an EV are beneficial. They carry a lot of weight, meaning they need ample low-end torque. And they do predictable daily routes before heading back to a depot, ensuring a place to charge and allowing buyers to right-size the battery based on route length.
In the face of new truck regulations both on the California state and US federal levels, the rush to electrify heavy-duty vehicles has never been more urgent.
Battle Motors is a relatively new player, but in 2021, it acquired Crane Carrier Company, which has operated since 1946, building chassis for construction, refuse collection, and other industries. The company now has a full slate of electric chassis/cab combinations for “vocational” applications.
So far, Battle Motors has sold EV trucks to the cities of Los Angeles, New York, and Plano, Texas. EVs have made up about 5% of its sales this year, but it expects EVs to make up 20% of sales next year.
The event was put on by Velocity Truck Centers, a commercial truck dealer network that serves the Southwest US and distributes Battle Motors’ electric trucks. (We also drove Battle Motors’ all-electric street sweeper at the same event.)
And sure, track performance doesn’t matter for a garbage truck, but these vehicles do need a lot of power and can benefit from being more nimble, not needing to shift through so many gears, not slowing down traffic on city streets when going to and from the depot, and so on.
There is, unfortunately, still a persistent feeling among some crowds that electric motors don’t have enough power for heavy-duty applications (which couldn’t be further from the truth – the heaviest-duty applications, like freight trains, cruise ships, and mining trucks will often use electric drive, just fueled by diesel generators), so demo days like this are useful for fleet operators to get some hands-on experience.
Battle Motors’ trucks have either a 240 or 400 kWh battery and 442-570 horsepower, depending on configuration. Range depends on use and configuration, but with these two battery options, buyers will be able to right-size their pack for their application.
The trucks we drove felt smooth and quick on the track despite their 30,000+ lb. weight, with no problem getting up to speed – or down from it. Regenerative braking was strong; we saw up to 250 kW of regen being applied when we let off the accelerator. This helps make the vehicles more efficient, reduces maintenance due to lower brake usage, and reduces one source of noise, which is particularly beneficial for neighborhood operation. It’s also nice for drivers who don’t need to move their leg around to press the brake pedal as much (a minor thing, but compounded over several 8 hour days, it can add up).
These vehicles weren’t exactly quiet because while the diesel engine has been deleted, there’s still plenty of machinery associated with loading garbage into the truck, which will still make just as much noise as in diesel-powered versions. But they are quieter than the diesel versions, and every little bit of noise reduction helps in a neighborhood (especially with the modern predilection towards work-from-home – trash days are utter chaos in my neighborhood).
Battle Motors’ philosophy has been not to shake the boat too much when it comes to laying out powertrain parts, choosing to mount the motor up front and deliver power to the axles through a driveshaft rather than an e-axle. For the garbage trucks especially, putting the motor in the rear would risk having food refuse and other gunk potentially falling onto it in the course of operation, which could lead to corrosion or result in varmints chewing up cables or something. Plus, in a time when EVs will necessarily only be part of a fleet (so far), it makes it easier for fleet mechanics to work on alternate powertrains when the rest of the parts are similar.
The interior had about what you’d expect out of a garbage truck. Various switches to operate equipment, air-ride seats, command seating positions with big flat windows, and so on. But electric vehicles can be more comfortable for drivers, especially with so many hours in the truck, because the lack of a rumbling diesel engine means less vibration, less exhaust, and less noise, which makes working hours generally easier on the body.
The digital info cluster is a large, detailed LCD screen running Battle Motors’ “rEVolutionOS.” The trucks use MobilEye’s Shield+ system for collision avoidance and blind spot detection, helping to increase safety.
Electric heavy-duty trucks are still expensive, costing twice as much (or more) as comparable diesel vehicles. Companies can generally recoup these costs with drastically lower running costs, including fueling and maintenance, and the difference is even greater when environmental costs are taken into account.
That last point is why governments have offered huge incentives to reduce upfront prices of heavy-duty vehicles, to the amount of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per truck, to the point where post-incentive pricing can be quite similar to diesel vehicles in places like California, where lots of incentives exist.
And it’s about time, too. Heavy-duty vehicles make more than their fair share of pollution, and for things like diesel garbage trucks, that pollution happens directly in communities where people spend most of their time (and this pollution also harms refuse workers, who are around it every day). The quicker we can clean that up, the better.
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No matter how badly a fleet wants to electrify their operations and take advantage of reduced fuel costs and TCO, the fact remains that there are substantial up-front obstacles to commercial EV adoption … or are there? We’ve got fleet financing expert Guy O’Brien here to help walk us through it on today’s fiscally responsible episode of Quick Charge!
This conversation was motivated by the recent uncertainty surrounding EVs and EV infrastructure at the Federal level, and how that turmoil is leading some to believe they should wait to electrify. The truth? There’s never been a better time to make the switch!
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Vermont’s EV adoption has surged by an impressive 41% over the past year, with nearly 18,000 EVs now registered statewide.
According to data from Drive Electric Vermont and the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, 17,939 EVs were registered as of January 2025, increasing by 5,185 vehicles. Notably, over 12% of all new cars registered last year in Vermont had a plug. Additionally, used EVs are gaining popularity, accounting for about 15% of new EV registrations.
To put it in perspective, Vermont took six years to register its first 5,000 EVs – and the last 5,000 were added in just the previous year.
Rapid growth, expanding infrastructure
In just two years, Vermont has doubled its fleet of EVs, underscoring residents’ enthusiasm for electric driving. To support this surge, the state now boasts 459 public EV chargers, including 92 DC fast chargers.
The EV mix in Vermont is leaning increasingly toward BEVs, which represent 60% of the state’s EV fleet. The remaining 40% consists of PHEVs, offering flexible fuel options for drivers.
Top EV models in Vermont
Vermont’s favorite EVs in late 2024 included the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Nissan Ariya, Toyota RAV4 Prime PHEV, Tesla Model Y, and the Ford F-150 Lightning. These vehicles have appealed to Vermont drivers looking for reliability, performance, and practical features that work well in Vermont’s climate.
Leading the US in reducing emissions
This strong adoption of EVs earned Vermont the top ranking from the Natural Resources Defense Council for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in transportation in 2023. “It’s only getting easier for Vermonters to drive electric,” noted Michele Boomhower, Vermont’s Department of Transportation director. She emphasized the growing variety of EV models, including electric trucks and SUVs with essential features like all-wheel drive, crucial for Vermont’s climate and terrain.
Local dealerships boost EV accessibility
Nucar Automall, an auto dealer in St. Albans, is a great example of local support driving this trend. With help from Efficiency Vermont’s EV dealer incentives – receiving $25,000 through the EV Readiness Incentive program – it recently installed 15 EV chargers for new buyers and existing drivers to use.
“Having these chargers on the lot makes it easier for customers to see just how simple charging an EV can be,” said Ryan Ortiz, general manager at Nucar Automall. Ortiz also pointed out the growing affordability of EVs, thanks to more models becoming available and an increase in pre-owned EVs coming off leases.
Read more: Vermont becomes the first US state to pass a law requiring Big Oil to pay for climate damage
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Elon Musk said Tesla’s self-driving will start contributing to the company’s profits… wait for it… “next year” with “millions of Tesla robotaxis in operation during the second half of the year.”
The claim has become a running joke, as he has made it for the last decade.
During Tesla’s conference call following the release of its Q1 2025 financial results, Musk updated shareholders about Tesla’s self-driving plans, which he again presented as critical to the company’s future.
He made a series of claims, mainly updating timelines about Tesla’s self-driving efforts.
Here are the main comments:
- The CEO reiterated that Tesla will launch its paid autonomous ride-sharing service in Austin in June.
- He did clarify that the fleet will consist of Model Y vehicles and not the new Cybercab.
- Musk also confirmed that Tesla is currently training a fleet specifically for Austin.
- As we previously reported, this internal ride-hailing fleet operating in a geo-fenced with teleoperation assist is a big change from Tesla’s approach.
- Musk said “10 to 20 vehicles” on day one.
- Musk said that Tesla’s self-driving will start contributing positively to the company financially in the middle of next year, and “There will be millions of Teslas operating autonomously in the second half of next year.”
- Musk has literally said something similar every year for the past decade and therefore, it’s hard to take him seriously.
- The CEO claimed that Tesla would get “a 90-something percentage market share” in the autonomous market.
- Musk again claimed that no one else is getting close to Tesla’s capacity, and he criticized Waymo for being too expensive.
- Musk is “confident” that the first Model Y will drive itself from the factory to a customer’s home later this year.
- The CEO said that he is confident that Tesla will deliver “unsupervised full self-driving” in consumer vehicles by the end of the year.
Despite Tesla missing earnings expectations by a wide margin, the company’s stock rose 4% in after-hours trading following Musk’s comments, indicating that shareholders still believe Musk’s self-driving predictions, despite his predictions having been incorrect for almost a decade.
Electrek’s Take
The first point I believe will happen. Tesla needs it to happen. It badly needs a win on the self-driving front.
However, as we previously explained, while Tesla will claim a win in June, it will be with a limited geo-fenced and teleoperation-assisted system that won’t scale to customer vehicles, which is what has been promised for years.
Tesla was even asked how it plans to launch this in Austin in June, when FSD in consumer vehicles currently requires frequent interventions from drivers, and Ashok, Tesla’s head of autonomous driving, admitted his team is currently focused on solving the intervention specifically related to driving in Austin.
With training on specific Austin routes and using teleoperations, Tesla can make that happen, but the road between that and unsupervised self-driving in consumer vehicles and “million of Tesla robotaxis” in the second of next year is a long one.
Basically, other than the first point, I believe Tesla will not achieve any of the other on anything close to the timelines announced by Musk today.
I’m willing to take bets on that.
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