Good point however, taxpayers may be willing to pay ‘somewhat more’ for the extra sleep.
Of course, they shouldn’t be offered subsidies from other citizens of the state or country to choose e-garbage trucks!
Seems like a good application of the technology. IF a battery can carry the needed energy. There’s a lot of work to be done by a garbage truck, much more than moving an ultra-light vehicle around requires.
There's a tremendous amount of work - fully charged, the vehicle leaves the depot, performs the rounds picking up trash, and then likely makes a long trip to the dump or (if your city is into robbing you blind) to the waste transfer center where people get to pick through your garbage. (You did shred those documents, right?)
I think the biggest hurdle is that trip to the dump at the end of the rounds; that's most likely the longest drive with the vehicle fully loaded.
You get to haul around the batteries as well all day to fuel that trip as well. Not to mention all the high load lifts of trash bins and compaction cycles that the truck goes through on a normal day.
Fuel costs aren't there because they're drag racing the vehicles down your street, but because of all the various mechanical systems on the truck.
I can certainly see the attraction in this technology, but honestly, I can't see it working without a battery swap to handle the dump run.
And ultimately, the really interesting questions that need to be answered: in most areas of the country, our electric grid is at or near capacity - where will the infrastructure upgrade come from to deliver the power to handle these trucks, and is it fair to transfer the pollution from those who enjoy the services to those who happen to live downwind of the power plants?