According to Batteries International, on March 10 EnerSys have been selected for use in Tenax International’s Electra 01 fleet of street sweepers, and lead batteries entered into a new area of business.
Tenax International is an Italy-based company that sells its sweepers to city councils across Europe including contracts with Paris, Brussels, Krakow and Vigo. They are used in locations such as factories, wineries and campsites.
“While its electrical concept offered significant ecological and energy-saving advantages, it had to compete in an almost totally diesel-dominated market,” says EnerSys. “To succeed, the electric street sweeper had to provide the same level of autonomy as a diesel solution.”
Previous attempts to commercialize an electrical solution for street sweepers had failed because the machines could not guarantee sufficient operating times, EnerSys said. “Therefore, the first request to EnerSys was to provide energy to the sweeper machine for an entire shift of eight hours. Based on this, EnerSys identified a solution based on 48V 620Ah battery, which guaranteed this coverage.”
The machines also achieved a 90% reduction in operating costs, the firm said, compared with those associated with diesel machines.