The University is the proud owner of a Tiger Truck — a vehicle that runs completely on electricity. The truck, which was paid for by student fees, will help the University’s Facilities Services
in gathering recycling and compost
material on campus and at events.
The Tiger Truck, smaller than the traditional step van that Facilities Services uses, is able to carry 1,200 pounds on its truck bed and will be used mainly for handling recycled cans, bottles and newspapers It will also be used instead of bicycles during winter term and during events such as the ASUO Street Faire and Folk Festival, Karyn Kaplan, the environmental
resource and recycling manager, said.
“We just got it last fall and it took us a while — got it painted, licensed, insured — all that happened (during) the first term and ended in December,” Kaplan said. “We are just starting to break it out. The first route is four hours. We have to get our staff trained to use it.”
Kaplan said only one person so far is certified to use it.
Yet, the electric vehicle has proven itself useful already for Facilities Services, managing recycling during the Street Faire earlier this year and assisting in gathering recyclable items on campus.
Current use includes “outside drop-off collections and some special collections with odd items: books, compact discs, Styrofoam peanuts,” Kaplan said. “We’ll use it for campus events with places that are tighter to get into.”
Kaplan added the truck will soon become vital for Facilities Services.
“We have so many events coming up in the next month and a half,”
Kaplan said, citing specifically
the Folk Festival and Sustainable
Business Symposium.
Though the Tiger Truck hasn’t been fully implemented yet, the electric
vehicle is already lessening many
loads for Facilities Services and
University recycling.
For one, the Tiger Truck costs only a little more than $300 to maintain per year compared to the $1,400 Kaplan estimates it costs to maintain the traditional step van. While step vans have fuel costs, among other maintenance costs, only batteries and tires are required for the Tiger Truck’s upkeep. A traditional battery for the electric truck lasts about five years.
Also, the truck produces no emissions.
“It’s a lot better for the campus because … when the truck’s idling through campus it doesn’t spew emissions,” Kaplan said.
According to Tiger Truck’s
Web site, the Tiger Truck uses a 48-volt battery that lasts between 22 and 66 miles per charge with an eight-hour recharge time if the
battery is completely depleted.
Jim Fleck, the recycling coordinator for Facilities Services, said the truck is powered by “an onboard charger. … You just plug it into a household outlet and it’s all self-contained with everything it needs to recharge.”
Fleck said many other electric
vehicles have a charger that must
be mounted.
“We recycled 1,200 tons last year, and that’s about 660 pounds of recycling per day split up, but we don’t pick up recycling on the weekends,” Kaplan said.
By the end of winter term, the Tiger Truck will take over many of the bicycle routes typically serviced by the 35-40 student employees the Facilities Services program hires, Fleck said.
“We feel it’s a vehicle that would lend itself to other uses,” Fleck said. “We would like the campus environment to have more electric vehicles.”
For now, the truck has improved Facilities Services’ recycling tasks.
“It’s a huge benefit to students, and it models that electric vehicles are the future, but shows it’s
something that works today,”
Kaplan said.

[email protected]