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Daewoo Avia – Sidewinder Joint Venture Helps Reduce Waste (14th March 2003)
This Daewoo D75 fitted with W Thomas bodywork and DEL side bin lifts is already in servce with Three Rivers Council
Daewoo Avia has teamed up with Dudley based bodybuilder W Thomas, and Oxford based DEL Equipment (UK) Ltd to build a new breed of eco-friendly refuse collection vehicles. This scheme has been backed by municipal hire specialist MHS, and in a multi-lateral demonstration programme the “Sidewinder”, as it has become known, will be shown to a wide range of municipal refuse operators in the UK during 2003.
Based on the 9000kg Daewoo D90 chassis, the three manufacturers have developed a new concept in segregated waste collection, dedicated to assist in reducing landfill. The resultant vehicle, painted in MHS colours, is to be displayed on the Daewoo Avia stand (hall 5 –stand 242) at the 2003 Commercial Vehicle Show (NEC Birmingham 18-20th March 2003).
Legislative and fiscal pressure is being increased upon local authorities to reduce landfill and implement waste separation in order to increase recycling of waste. An escalator clause contained within The Finance Act and Landfill Tax Regulations 1996 together with the Landfill Directive are driving a fundamental change in the way in which household waste is separated at source and the Sidewinder project is designed to meet a rapidly growing need for compact segregated waste vehicles.
Local Milton Keynes based dealer Shire Trucks has been particularly active in coordinating this project and their sales manager Mr Dave O Conner, takes up the story, “In 2002 Three Rivers Council decided to take their waste collection services back in-house and purchased a Daewoo D75 with a W Thomas caged tipper with twin DEL side bin lifts for their segregated waste project. This vehicle created great interest in the municipal world, not only because it was one of the first Daewoo Avia’s to enter service in a refuse collection fleet, but because it proved a practical, reliable, cost effective way to collect segregated waste. It was the forerunner of the vehicle you’ll see on our stand at the CV show. Add the street-friendly looks and driver comfort of the D-Line and you have a formidable vehicle. and their intimate knowledge of the local municipal market has helped greatly in this respect.”
DEL has subsequently developed its side lift – now appropriately dubbed the “Sidewinder”, and W Thomas and Daewoo Avia have been working on the vehicle spec. The recent introduction of a 9000kg gvw D90 model gave the project extra payload, whilst a decision to go for a 3.9m wheelbase has added useful cubic metres to the payload capacity.
Technically, the D90 is equipped with a 150bhp EURO3 Cummins ISBe engine – an engine which has already gained respect for its frugal but flexible performance. This is normally mated with a 6 speed ZF gearbox and Eaton driving head. As an alternative the truck can be specified with the Allison LCT 2000 series 5 speed automatic gearbox. The LCT 2000 is an “intelligent” box with a data link to the engine enabling the gearbox to be more proactive in its performance. All 5 gears feature a lock-up facility which gives this unit particularly good fuel economy for an automatic box. Daewoo Avia has recently won an order for 9 of their 7500kg gvw D75’s with the same Allison box for airport catering use and this gearbox is forecast to be a popular option in municipal use.
Turning to the body, W Thomas has designed a 4.6m long caged tipper with a “boat profile” body floor to lower the C of G and to better channel the waste as it is tipped. The body has a total capacity of 18 cubic metres in two separate compartments, each served by its own DEL side mounted lift, giving safe kerb-side loading for two types of segregated waste on the same “bin round”. The body has been designed to be as flexible as possible in use, featuring a variable split of 50/50 or 70/30 between the compartments enabling the relative size of the compartments to be altered to optimally suit the relative volume and density of the categories of waste being collected.
The body construction has some neat features to lower weight and increase rigidity, including the use of tubular outriggers interspersed with lipped channel bearers. Harsh underfloor tipping gear has been specified and hydraulic rear doors are available as an option.
Looking more closely at the bin lifts, the new DEL “Sidewinder” side mounted bin lifts are designed to work with standard DIN 360 litre wheely bins. The Sidewinder has been developed specifically for kerb-side segregated waste collection and features a fully galvanised structure with greaseless bushes at every pivot point for a rust free life with minimum maintenance. The lift can be powered from an electro-hydraulic pack, or as in the case of the Daewoo Avia installation, from a standard PTO driven pump. High productivity is ensured by a particularly quick cycle time – a fully laden bin is raised 3 metres, tipped and returned to the ground in under 30 seconds.
The vehicle has already created interest amongst refuse disposal contractors and Daewoo Avia and MHS are optimistic of the concept’s future success.
