The reduction in payload compared to conventional refuse collection vehicles (at 26 tons permitted total weight, down by around 1 ton) is one of the main areas of criticism. However, the reduction in fuel consumption and the lower noise level do open up the possibility of using such vehicles at marginal times, which would bring with it several advantages.
To analyse the stock of vehicles it proved sensible to divide the existing municipal fleet into vehicle groups based on permitted total weight. Using reference vehicles it was thereby possible to establish which vehicles showed potential for savings. From here, specific options for handling the management of the fleet could be derived.
To this end, a self-propelled road sweeper (Bucher Schörling City Cat 5000, weight category 7.5–12 tons) was fitted out in a complex procedure with a total of 16 sensors in order to record all hazardous substances produced during real driving operations – auxiliary equipment simultaneously switched – which had previously never been done in this form.