Scania concludes landmark battery-electric truck deal in Singapore

19 APRIL 2022

Supply of 15 units to waste collection company ALBA W&H Smart City is Scania’s first electric truck agreement in Asia.

Scania’s global efforts to drive the shift towards sustainable transport have just received a significant boost, with the company’s first sale of battery-electric trucks to the Asian market.

The Singapore arm of Berlin-based recycling and environmental services company ALBA W&H Smart City has purchased no fewer than 15 Scania 25 L battery-electric B6x2*4 trucks, after winning a new contract for public waste collection for the Woodlands-Yishun sector of the island city state.

Each truck’s low-entry cab, rear loader and nine batteries with 297kW hours installed makes it well-suited to the demands of collecting waste in Singapore. With six million people sharing just 728 square kilometres, the city is one of the world’s most densely populated urban territories, making efficient, emission-free and quiet waste collection a key contributor to achieving a more sustainable quality of life.

Singapore authorities help drive electric vehicle market

The sale of the trucks was partly driven by the Republic of Singapore Government’s strong commitment to sustainable transport. The authorities have made it a pre-requisite of all public transport tenders that a certain minimum amount of the waste collection fleet must be electric-powered.

“Singapore is unique in Southeast Asia in taking such a progressive stand on environmentally-friendly transport. By putting in a specific piece of policy on electrification that in turn creates a market for electric vehicles, the Singaporean Government is really taking the lead in driving sustainable change,” says David Lantz, Director of Driving the Shift to a more sustainable transport system for Scania Southeast Asia.

“We see that cities are driving the trend towards electrification through environmental legislation and aspects such as total cost of operation. Thus, forward-thinking waste handling companies such as ALBA W&H Smart City see the potential for expanding into this area,” adds Kristine Stålhandske, Sales Manager for eMobility at Scania Group.

Trucks operational by Q3, 2022

The 15 new truck chassis are being built at Scania’s main assembly line in Södertälje, Sweden, and will be shipped to Singapore in the middle of the year.

There, the vehicles will have special waste compactor bodies fitted onto their chassis, and it’s expected that the trucks will be operational on the streets of Singapore by Q3 of 2022, with ALBA W&H Smart City providing the city’s waste collection services for their new sector for the next six years.