Lunaz’s restomod bin lorry has over 2,500lb ft of torque

Remember Lunaz’s restomodded bin lorry that it announced earlier this year? No? Don’t worry, quite a lot has happened since then so we’ll forgive it slipping your mind. 

To recap, it’s the work of Lunaz Applied Technologies and is essentially an old Mercedes Econic refuse truck that’s refreshed and fitted with an electric powertrain and new safety tech.

However, whereas the standard diesel Merc makes a maximum of 1,033lb ft of torque (a more useful metric than bhp in this context), Lunaz’s reborn ‘upcycled electric vehicle’ makes over 2,500lb ft.

We know this because it has recently been testing at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire, with five trucks currently going through 300,000 miles of ‘Belgian Pave’ durability testing, more than 500 hours of driver calibration and 800 hours of energy optimisation. Oh, there’ll soon be top speed (56mph) tests which will involve running at full chat for more than 200 hours – presumably with a couple of charging stops in between. 

Lunaz says it even tested its recycled recycling truck on Millbrook’s famous Hill Route (the location of James Bond’s Casino Royale Aston Martin DBS roll) which features a 1:5 gradient and is apparently equivalent to the UK’s steepest residential street. We’re told it managed that with over 730lb ft of torque to spare. Should be plenty capable of doing the local bin collection round, then. 

It’ll be quiet too, with sister firm Lunaz Design supplying the Applied Technologies team with an electrified 1961 Bentley Continental Flying Spur for ‘acoustic benchmarking purposes’. Lovely.

We’re told that volume production of the new-old EVs will start in 2023. We'll give you a nudge, because we suspect quite a lot will have happened between now and then...