Isuzu's Battery Swap System Allows Electric Garbage Trucks to Get Back on Duty in Minutes

Isuzu's battery replacement system allows electric garbage trucks to be back on duty within minutes. The pilot project will demonstrate the potential of the technology in commercial fleets. For fleets such as logistics vehicles, buses or garbage trucks, having a vehicle waiting at a charging station for hours means disruption of the operation.

That's why battery replacement systems instead of fast charging are becoming increasingly attractive, especially for such vehicles. Japanese automobile manufacturer Isuzu, one of the leading companies in this field, has now taken a remarkable step in this regard. Isuzu has begun testing its battery swapping system for use in municipal electric garbage trucks in Yokohama, Japan.

Within the scope of the project, which will continue until March 2028, the company will try to demonstrate that vehicles can continue their duties without long charging breaks by replacing discharged batteries with fully charged batteries in approximately three minutes. Garbage trucks are one of the most difficult areas of transition to electric. Electric garbage trucks have much more challenging working conditions compared to other commercial vehicles.

While these vehicles constantly stop and go throughout the day, they also operate hydraulic systems that consume high energy to compress the garbage. For this reason, not only driving but also the equipment on the vehicle draws a significant amount of energy from the battery. In Yokohama, municipal garbage collection vehicles work in a single shift between 07.30 in the morning and 15.30 in the afternoon.

Since the schedule is quite tight, it does not seem possible in practice for vehicles to take a one or two hour fast charging break in the middle of the day. If a truck drains its battery during the route, not only that vehicle but the entire collection program may be disrupted. For this reason, larger battery packs have generally been preferred in electric garbage trucks to date.

However, larger batteries increase the weight of the vehicle, increase its cost and negatively affect transportation efficiency. Batteries become the common energy source of the fleet, not the vehicle. The system used by Isuzu is based on the platform called EVision Cycle Concept, which the company introduced at the 2023 Japan Mobility Fair.

In this approach, batteries are considered not as fixed components of a specific vehicle, but as modular energy packages shared by the fleet. When the vehicle arrives at the station, the discharged battery is removed by the robotic system and replaced with a new, fully charged battery. The whole process takes about three minutes.

Thus, the vehicle can get on the road again. Thanks to this system, manufacturers can use smaller battery packs suitable for the duration of duty instead of huge batteries that will last a full day. When needed, the vehicle continues to operate by purchasing a new battery.

Such central battery pools offer not only operational but also economic advantages. Thanks to the management of batteries from a common pool, charging operations can be planned according to the density in the electricity network. In addition, batteries that have completed their automotive lifespan can be used in stationary energy storage systems to gain a second lifespan.

Actually, this is not the first time Isuzu has tried this technology. The company started testing battery-replaceable electric distribution trucks in September 2025, together with ITOCHU Corporation and FamilyMart, also in Yokohama. The new project aims to demonstrate the durability of the system by testing this technology in municipal services with much higher energy consumption.