Road sweeper using hybrid technology

Not only on cars carrying people, hybrid-electric drive technology has also appeared on public transport like road sweepers.

Road sweepers using hybrid technology: operate more efficiently, keep the environment greener

This is a collaborative product between the Swiss Federal Material Science and Technology Laboratory (EMPA) and the Zurich University of Technology (ETH Zurich) and the urban vehicle manufacturing company Bucher Municipal. With this technology, the vehicle can operate more efficiently, consuming only half the energy of diesel-hydraulic vehicles and reducing emissions by more than 60%.

The main goal of the project is to provide a cleaner and more efficient vehicle in place of diesel road sweepers while keeping production and operating costs comparable to current technologies.

So why is a road sweeper?

These vehicles usually operate about 7 hours per day and consume 10,000 liters of diesel per year, 10 times more than a passenger car, the development team said.

While the cost of upgrading these vehicles may be higher, the operating costs will be offset by the use of natural gas . The car is equipped with a natural gas engine with a generator that acts as a driving source. This engine consumes 50% less fuel and contains less carbon thereby significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The development team predicts that if using a biogas mixture , the road sweeper is even more environmentally friendly. In addition, thanks to modular design, other energy sources can also be used on this vehicle including a fully electric drive system or hydrogen fuel cell.

Bucher's administration department is now planning to develop a more complete vehicle module platform and review the production processes needed to bring the vehicle to market in the near future.