Freiburg: City Cleaning Disposes Electrically with E-Transporter Goupil G6

As early as next year, the urban cleaning division of the company, which is partly municipally and partly privately owned, aims to operate its entire fleet silently and without emissions. ASF Managing Director Michael Broglin on the climate protection project "Emission-Free Urban Cleaning":

“We set ourselves the goal relatively early on to switch our vehicles to climate-friendly drive technologies in order to provide our logistics service as environmentally friendly as possible.”

As early as 2017, the first battery-electric street sweeper was put into operation in Germany, and by 2035, the entire company should be climate-neutral. Broglin:

“We want to have converted the large utility vehicles in the waste collection sector to fuel cell operation by 2030.”

Additionally, the waste disposal company has 19 electric cargo bikes, known as Gässleflitzer, in use. The city of Freiburg, which aims to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest, is already a nationwide pioneer today with the largest fleet of environmentally friendly powered collection vehicles, it was stated.

Beginning with StreetScooters

Until now, hand-cleaning teams equipped with shovels and brooms drove conventional flatbed trucks into the cleaning districts. Workshop manager Thomas Ehrenfelder, also responsible for vehicle procurement, said:

“In 2019, the first electrically powered StreetScooters were added.”

After StreetScooter production was discontinued, they looked for alternatives. During a business trip to Dortmund, the managing director himself happened to see a Goupil while walking through the city center. Broglin said:

“Behind me, I noticed a vehicle that I didn't hear at all.”

He inquired with the driver and only heard positive things. Subsequently, the purchasing manager was tasked with contacting the general importer Iseki.

Facts: The E-Transporter Goupil G6

The electric transporter Goupil G6, with a gross payload of up to 1.15 tons and a minimum range according to the WLTP test procedure of 150 kilometers, met the expectations of ASF.

With an electrical output of 28.8 kW and a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour, it is well-motorized for all urban cleaning tasks in Germany's southernmost metropolis. The compact dimensions of 1.70 meters in width and 4.80 meters in length make the G6 a maneuverable vehicle even in narrow streets.

By procuring the 22 Goupil, a total of 25 green-and-white fully electric vehicles are now on the move with a 50-man strong cleaning team to keep Freiburg's streets, bike and pedestrian paths, playgrounds, green spaces, and underpasses clean and to empty waste bins. Hotspots like the old town are cleaned by ASF several times a day, even on weekends. Thomas Ehrenfelder:

“That we have already achieved 79 percent of our goal of climate neutrality in the urban cleaning sector by 2025 is largely attributable to the Goupil transporters.”