The city of Louisville will be the first in the nation to use a 100% electric fleet of trash and recycling collection vehicles after renewing a contract with Republic Services.

But you likely won’t hear the new vehicles coming until they slam a neighbor’s waste can down during the morning hours. 

Republic, which has been testing fleets of electric vehicles and using them elsewhere in the country piecemeal, has committed to having the fleet servicing Louisville fully electric by the end of the year.

Republic has contracted with Louisville for the past five years. During the latest contract renewal process, Republic offered to continue with their existing fleet or convert fully to EVs, according to a spokesperson. Republic will own and operate the vehicles not Louisville. 

Given Louisville’s climate goals — which include meeting 100% of its municipal needs by 2025, reducing greenhouse gas emissions from city vehicles and support public adoption of EVs in the general public — the city opted for option to convert to EVs fully.

Republic offered two contract options, one for electric vehicles and one for natural gas vehicles. Ultimately, Louisville’s government opted for a fully electric fleet as a matter of cost, according to City Communications Manager Grace Johnson.

“The city put out a request for proposals to identify the cost difference between a renewable natural gas service fleet and an electric vehicle service fleet,” Johnson said. “The city received two qualified proposals with the electric fleet providing the overall lowest cost.”

An electric vehicle will likely cost less in the long term as well, according to a statement provided to Louisville by Republic. In theory, due to less moving parts and lower mechanical complexity of the motors versus an internal combustion engine, EVs will be more reliable. This is, however, somewhat dubious as Consumer Reports found EVs to be roughly 80% less reliable than a traditional vehicle.

And as far as hearing the truck coming down the road as the warning it’s trash day, those days are over with EV trash trucks. 

“Let’s be real, the operations are significantly quieter than diesel or natural gas trucks,” Walters said. “They eliminate almost all noise pollution.

“But if you’re one of those who use the trash truck as a wakeup call, you probably won’t hear this one until it’s lifting your neighbor’s trash can.”

Republic was quick to add it’s too early to confirm the long term and ongoing maintenance costs with any degree of certainty.

The service provider has experience operating an electric vehicle fleet, having put test vehicles through their paces over the past several years, Republic External Communications Manager Jeremy Walters said. This includes winter and cold weather testing — the latter having an outsized impact on battery life, according to a report from the University of Michigan.

“EV collection trucks have been strategically placed in markets throughout the country so that we can see how they perform under various conditions,” Walters said. “Our research vehicles in colder environments have exceeded our performance expectations and will be ready for duty upon delivery.”

While other cities, like Denver, have experienced major delays and issues with trash collection services, neither Republic nor Louisville foresee any major issues — even with an electric vehicle fleet.

Republic’s existing maintenance infrastructure has prevented issues with its existing fleet of collection vehicles from occurring in the first place, according to Johnson. On top of that, Republic has a robust system to monitor their fleet so crews can respond to any issues proactively and quickly, minimizing the impact of potential problems.

“Nothing changes with the implementation of an EV fleet,” Johnson said. “Republic’s dedicated maintenance teams are already being trained to maintain an EV fleet, including having mobile charging capabilities.”