29 E-Mobility Engineering | September/October 2025 Mack Trucks LR Electric | Dossier “We don’t have any integrated driver aid coaches on the instrument panel, but as with many electric vehicles, the dashboard does have a real-time driving gauge. It shows the percentage of power you’re utilising, noting a minus if you’re regen braking or a plus if you’re utilising power – and some drivers used that to make their day more fun. “In fact, some have even turned the regenerative braking technology into a bit of a game. They look for their next bin and let off the throttle at a certain point to try to stop the vehicle with as little applied braking as possible! They said it made their day fly by – and it’s an interesting benefit that I never thought I’d hear!” Body configuration The LRe, it is important to note, consists of just the chassis and cab unit. The actual garbage-munching body is a separately sourced item, and Mack has deliberately worked to be body agnostic, enabling a wide range of thirdparty suppliers to offer solutions that can be fitted to their electric platform. This presents the added bonus of being able to switch from a diesel version to an electric model without having to replace the whole body of the truck – and part of the company’s work in developing the electric version has been to collaborate with some of those body suppliers to seek combined efficiencies from the vehicle’s total electrification. “There are bodies out there that are 100% electric and use electric actuators, and that can bring some added efficiency, but the majority of bodies in the industry are still hydraulic,” says Fotopoulos. “That hydraulic system requires a pump to move the fluid, so we have an electronic power take-off [EPTO] that we can connect up to it. “The chassis is fitted with an electric motor that spins up and can pump the hydraulic fluid for the refuse operations. That means the whole system can still be fully electric, even with a hydraulic body, but we can also direct-tap into our electrical architecture to run an electric actuator body if the customer chooses to. “I don’t have the detail around the efficiency gains, as we’re not the manufacturer of those bodies, but the percentage efficiencies when it comes to an electric actuator system versus a hydraulic system are likely to be the same as an EV powertrain compared to an ICE unit, so I would say the power draw is less with an electric actuator body. “The other benefit an electric actuator body can offer, in some cases, is its own integrated battery. That then means the operational aspects of running the vehicle are powered by a battery separate to the chassis, creating less demand on the power from our side and allowing the vehicle to go further on the same amount of charge.” Fotopoulos says his team is working together with many different manufacturers to integrate new bodies onto the chassis in the most efficient way. That includes the industry leader, Heil, which has developed the RevAMP eASL body, which is a fully electric automated side loader with a selfcontained power source. According to Heil, this body can significantly increase the range of the electric chassis and also reduce maintenance by eliminating hydraulic liquids. It can service up to 1200 homes per day using its independent 46 kWh The Mack LRe chassis works with a range of different refuse body designs Electric-powered functionality for refuse units adds to the efficiency of operation
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