City West Commercial develops sweeper28 June 2023

City West Commercials Mercedes-Benz Atego The Atego 1323 LKO chassis has a raised ride height to allow ample room for implements to be mounted

City West Commercials is to build a demonstrator vehicle based on a Mercedes-Benz Atego chassis and equipped with Scarab’s Magnum 72 Hydrostatic single-engine sweeper body.

The Atego 1323 LKO chassis has a raised ride height to allow ample room for implements to be mounted. It is rated at 13.5 tonnes gross vehicle weight, and powered by a 170 kW (231 hp) 5.1-litre, four-cylinder engine. This drives through a nine-speed manual gearbox and has its steering wheel on the left side of the ClassicSpace cab, for optimum control and visibility when sweeping along the kerbside.

Scarab’s Magnum 72 body, meanwhile, features a 7.2m3 stainless steel hopper with large access doors and automatic ratchet hopper prop, and a 900mm stainless steel high-speed fan with boost facility, inlet cone and screen. Sweeping duties are catered for by 650mm side brushes with variable speed control, a 400mm wide-sweep brush and 740mm wide suction nozzle with auto-blanking. Dust suppression jets are fitted across the vehicle and the 1,800-litre GRP water tank has a large lid to allow for easy cleaning.

The sweeping equipment is all managed by Scarab’s CANbus control system – a panel mounted inside the cab communicates all operational information, data logging and diagnosis.

Custom specification items available to customers include flexible overhead boom configuration and a range of beacons, work lights, cameras and safety options.

The single-engine configuration of Scarab’s Magnum means all the body equipment is driven by the truck’s main powerplant – rather than a second, auxiliary or ‘donkey’ engine. Scarab maintains this set-up offers significant benefits to operators and the environment.

Scarab business development manager Andy Farley said: “Removing the second engine reduces the kerb weight of the finished vehicle – which typically translates into a payload increase of more than 25%. And with only one engine running, there’s an overall reduction in fuel consumption of up to 40%.

“A single-engine vehicle is much cleaner too, because auxiliary motors are not required to meet the same exhaust standards as the truck’s main engine, and therefore produce higher levels of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions.

“Last but not least are the cost benefits,” he continued. “One reason many operators chose donkey engines in the past was that they could run on low-tax ‘red’ diesel – but rule changes last year mean that is no longer the case. Meanwhile brake wear, clutch wear, parts and labour costs are substantially reduced.

“All these benefits come with no loss of performance, thanks to Scarab’s straight airflow design which means air bends only three times before the exhaust.”


Author
Transport Engineer

Related Companies
Mercedes-Benz
Scarab Sweepers Ltd

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