South Cambs District Council operates a Schmidt eSwingo, a diesel Swingo, plus 53 HVO and diesel -powered refuse collection vehicles and a further three electric RCVs. The eSwingo is deployed four days a week in a daily 7.5 hour shift to sweep cycleways and paths in the rural areas outside Cambridge, travelling up to 20 miles to nearby villages. Robin Moore, Fleet and Asset Manager of South Cambs DC, confirms that the eSwingo is very efficient and castor wheels on the suction box makes for even easier operation. At the end of the shift, the sweeper comes back to the depot where it’s charged overnight and ready to go again the next day. One charge is more than adequate for the daily shift plus the travelling to and from the destination.
The eSwingo in operation has a quite unique and special history. It’s an ex-demonstrator which was used at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone where it was deployed to sweep the track and pit lanes clear of potentially accident-causing debris. The sweeper is propelled entirely by electric power, thanks to a powerful rechargeable battery with a capacity of more than 60 kWh that delivers up to 10 hours without recharging and saves up to 158kg of CO2 per day. The clean, quiet and cost-efficient sweeper features all-wheel steering and has a top speed of 50 kmh (31mph), using just one electric motor fitted directly onto the rear axle to give more performance and lower maintenance costs than other systems.
“We have one operator, Darren Mynott, for the eSwingo because we want to build operator familiarity and expertise with the vehicle. Darren reports how much quieter the vehicle is and how less tired he is at the end of a shift as a result,” said Robin Moore. Moore has opted for a repair and maintenance contract with Aebi Schmidt. “The back-up is brilliant and on the very rare occasions when we’ve had a problem, we get an immediate response and, if it can’t be resolved over the phone, an engineer comes out in a matter of hours,” he added.
