Designwerk awarded national energy prize “Watt d’Or”

09.01.2020 – In a lighthouse project, Designwerk Technologies GmbH began building all-electric 26-ton refuse trucks three years ago. The result, achieved jointly with the SFOE and industrial partners, will now be awarded the “Watt d’Or” energy prize in the “Energy-efficient mobility” category.

At the end of December 2019, Designwerk completed its lighthouse project supported by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy. The partnership project aimed to build economical, ecological and high-performance 26-ton electric trucks for waste disposal logistics and to gain knowledge about their use.

The electrification of recycling logistics is advantageous

The project scope included the development and delivery of four vehicles for collection operations in the cities of Thun, Murten, Lausanne and Neuchâtel. These were tested in daily collection operations and continuously improved. In stop-and-go operation, the Collect 26E e-truck from the company’s own brand Futuricum transfer the drive power to the road immediately and almost without noise thanks to linear torque. The recuperation of braking energy ensures high drive efficiency. The elimination of fossil fuels and the heavy goods vehicle tax results in significantly lower operating costs, which means that the higher acquisition costs of the vehicles can be amortized. In addition, the Futuricum vehicles do not cause any local pollutant emissions.

Futuricum’s continued existence secured and honored

Even after the project has been completed, the vehicles continue to be in daily use and enjoy a high level of acceptance from operating companies and the general public. The continuation of the project and the resulting findings is thereby ensured in the long term. The Futuricum Collect 26E and other models are now being mass-produced by the company’s own production company Designwerk Products AG, which has been supported by the investor CAT Growth AG since January 2019. Now the corresponding commitment of the company, employees and partners is being honored with the “Watt d’Or 2020” energy award. The award is given for best performance in the energy sector by the Swiss Federal Office of Energy and is of national significance.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our customers, partners, supporters and companions for the sustained, uplifting and successful cooperation:

Findings from the lighthouse project

The four prototypes have an average consumption value of 190 kWh per 100 km in collective operation. This corresponds to a diesel equivalent of 19.6 l/100km (for comparison: the diesel vehicles of the operating companies have an average consumption of 90 l/100km).
The four EWS prototypes have so far been able to save around 1,986 tons of_{CO2 emissions} compared to four diesel refuse collection vehicles.
In total, the four electric collection vehicles had covered over 150,000 km by the time the project was completed.
The lighthouse project has shown that there is great potential in the electrification of commercial vehicles, especially in recyclables collection vehicles, but also in other applications such as construction and distribution logistics.