First electric semitrailer tractor
Winterthur, July 24 - Empty PET bottles will in future be collected in the greater Zurich and Aargau area using the first electric semi-trailer truck in this weight class. This pioneering work is the result of a collaboration between Flux Mobility AG and the transport and recycling company TRANS CYCLE and opens up new possibilities in emission-free transportation on both sides.
Over 10 years, the electric semi-trailer from Flux will save around 123 tons of CO2 compared to a diesel vehicle. This corresponds to over 500 flights from Zurich to Barcelona (40,000 km per year, 200 days of use and 70% city traffic). The use of electric vehicles pays off particularly in this area, as they offer a large loading volume of approx. 24,000 bottles and at the same time only require a low payload.
The Flux semitrailer tractor was handed over to TRANS CYCLE in summer 2024. The vehicle was developed in Winterthur (Switzerland) and completed with the semi-trailer in Rohrbach (Switzerland). "At Trans Cycle, we already attach great importance to using vehicles with low emission values. We are now setting new standards with the first electric semi-trailer from Flux. Thanks to intelligent route management, the vehicle covers around 40,000 kilometers a year and avoids unnecessary routes and downtimes," says Urs Frey CEO TRANS CYCLE.
The Flux semitrailer tractor with double tires on the rear axle and full air suspension has a total towing weight of up to 8.5t. The electric rear-wheel drive eliminates the need for additional weights, which are often required with diesel vehicles due to the adhesion forces. Despite its weight, the vehicle can be driven in Switzerland with a BE license. It is also optionally available with a fully electric all-wheel drive, which Flux Mobility is the only provider on the market to offer. "In TRANS CYCLE, we have found the ideal project partner to drive forward the Swiss PET recycling cycle with the first electric semi-trailer. Developing a new vehicle concept that is both ecologically and technically convincing has given us a lot of pleasure," says Severin Ganz, Marketing and Sales Manager at Flux Mobility.
PET recycling saves 126,000 tons of greenhouse gases in Switzerland every year. The recycling rate is around 83%, which corresponds to around 34,748 tons of recycled PET bottles. "I was delighted to be able to drive the first electric articulated lorry - even though I was initially unsure what impact it would have on my daily work. But from the very first journey, I immediately felt at ease," says Bojan Milanovic, driver at TRANS CYCLE.
Empty PET bottles can be handed in at over 60,000 collection points in Switzerland. If the bottles are compressed before transportation, this saves space and conserves resources. In order to achieve the high degree of purity of almost 100%, only PET beverage bottles may be included in the collection. After sorting, the PET beverage bottles are sent to one of the three sorting centers in Switzerland. There they are shredded into PET flakes and separated from the caps and labels in a water bath. Flakes are then processed into food-grade recycled PET in a multi-stage process. The resulting R-PET meets the highest safety and hygiene requirements of the Federal Food Safety Office (FSVO). The R-PET blanks, the preforms, are delivered back to the bottle manufacturers by the recycling plant. Preforms are smaller than the bottles produced from them. This allows the number of transports to be significantly reduced. In the filling plant, the preforms are blown into individual bottle shapes and refilled.
Flux Mobility AG, founded in April 2021 and based in Winterthur (Switzerland), develops high-quality light commercial vehicles with innovative, emission-free drive technologies. It also produces special vehicles. The basis for this is a flexible platform concept that enables the one-to-one replacement of diesel vehicles. Flux is thus playing a key pioneering role in the sustainable transformation of industrial mobility and is helping companies to exploit the potential of electromobility. Flux Mobility's customers include several of the largest municipal companies in Switzerland as well as the first companies in Germany.
TRANS CYCLE Transport- und Recycling AG was founded in Zurich in 1992 and is a leader in the field of PET collection and collection container logistics. Today, TRANS CYCLE offers innovative transport solutions in recycling and is regarded as an all-round provider in the transport industry.
