The City of Eugene, Oregon, recently purchased its first all-electric street sweeper. The battery-operated sweeper, which cost about $570,000, is expected to reduce the city’s carbon dioxide output by 115 tons per a typical sweeper’s lifetime — around seven years.

The city’s Public Works Department has been using seven diesel-powered street sweepers to sweep more than 40,000 curb miles of streets each year. When one of these sweepers requires repairs, it may be out of commission from one day to a month, depending on the issue and time needed to receive the new parts. The all-electric sweeper is expected to have a substantially smaller repair time. 

The sweeper features one 120-kW traction motor and NMC lithium-ion batteries (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide) that are charged via an AC 20kW, SAE J1772-compliant charging system.

According to Eric Johnson, the city’s Public Works maintenance operations manager, the Eugene Water and Electric Board is expected to supply electric energy for the sweeper.