KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Trash and recycling pickup on the University of Tennessee campus got quieter this week, as the school put a battery-powered McNeilus Volterra ZFL refuse truck into service on its Knoxville collection routes.
Campus officials picked the electric model to cut tailpipe emissions and the amount of diesel the fleet burns. The truck also recovers energy through regenerative braking and runs with far less noise than a diesel rig, which matters on early-morning runs that pass dorms, libraries and lecture halls before most of campus is awake.
The vehicle is built in Tennessee by McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing, and both the company and the university pointed to that in-state connection. Lee Dreas, president of McNeilus, said the company was proud to see a truck assembled by its Tennessee workforce hauling for the state flagship.
On paper, the Volterra ZFL is a Class 8 truck carrying a 499 kWh battery, with a larger 665 kWh pack offered as an option, feeding a high-torque e-axle. The maker says it is designed to work a full day on one charge, and published specs for the base setup list up to 110 miles of route range across a 10-hour shift.
That is plenty of range for the job. The campus covers approximately 910 acres along the south bank of the Tennessee River and serves 38,728 students, and stop-and-go routes at low speed with heavy loads are among the best fits for electric drive.
Brad Moats, recycling supervisor in the Facilities Services Department, said the university plans to track how the truck performs in daily use and let those results shape decisions about the rest of the fleet.
