The KT3E electric garbage truck is an EV truck engineered for the stop-start, low-speed duty of municipal refuse collection in Dar es Salaam. With a 262 kWh CATL LFP battery and a 282 kW LvKong motor, the KT3E powers a full hydraulic compactor while covering a 120-180 km shift on a single charge, even with the compaction pump drawing peak load at every stop. For a city fighting noise complaints and diesel smog in dense neighbourhoods, the near-silent EV truck lets collection move into late-evening and early-morning windows that diesel bans currently block, improving both air quality and resident satisfaction.
The production figures below are the ones a Dar es Salaam route planner should budget around.
| Parameter | KT3E Specification |
|---|---|
| Battery chemistry | CATL LFP, 262 kWh usable |
| Battery warranty | 8 years / 4,500 cycles |
| Traction motor | LvKong, 282 kW peak |
| Shift range | 120-180 km per charge |
| Energy use loaded | 1.4-1.8 kWh/km with compaction |
| DC fast charge | 120-360 kW, 10-80% in 45-90 min |
| Compactor | Hydraulic, 12-16 m3 body |
| FOB price | USD 75,000-95,000 |
Dar es Salaam's informal settlements pack collection points close together, so a route averages 400-700 stops across a 10-hour shift. The KT3E runs at 60-68 dB, well under the 75 dB threshold that triggers night-noise complaints, letting the city add 21:00 to 05:00 windows without permits battles. Because torque is instant from standstill, pull-away at each stop is smooth and fast, holding an average 18-24 km/h through the route despite constant braking. Regenerative braking returns 10-20 percent of the stop-start energy, which is why the KT3E still finishes a full 150 km shift on one charge.
Most municipal depots in Dar es Salaam have three-phase power suitable for a 180-240 kW DC charger. The 262 kWh pack reaches 80 percent in about 60-75 minutes during the day between route waves, and a full overnight charge from 20 percent takes roughly 5-6 hours on a 60 kW AC wallbox if DC is not yet installed. For a 30 truck fleet, two 240 kW chargers plus one shared buffer battery cover the morning dispatch without queuing, and the buffer also rides through the load-shedding cuts that still affect parts of the city grid.
Tanzanian industrial electricity runs about USD 0.10-0.20 per kWh, while diesel costs USD 0.90-1.25 per litre. The KT3E uses roughly 1.6 kWh/km loaded with compaction, so energy costs USD 0.16-0.32 per km. A diesel refuse truck of the same class burns 0.50-0.60 L/km, costing USD 0.45-0.75 per km. Across a 30 truck fleet covering 150 km per day for 300 days, the energy gap is worth USD 1.3-2.4 million annually, before the 35-40 percent maintenance saving from dropping the diesel engine, clutch and exhaust aftertreatment that fail fastest in stop-start duty.
The 262 kWh pack uses an IP67 enclosure rated for coastal spray and the heavy wash-down that refuse trucks endure daily. Service planning should note:
Dongfeng also offers the KT3F sprinkler, KT7A washing and KT1D sweeper for the same municipalities. The KT3E is the compactor workhorse; the comparison helps a city size a mixed fleet.
| Model | Battery | Role | FOB USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| KT3E garbage | 262 kWh | Refuse compactor | 75,000-95,000 |
| KT1D sweeper | 262 kWh | Street sweeper | 70,000-90,000 |
| KT3F sprinkler | 262 kWh | Water sprinkler | 65,000-85,000 |
| KT7A washing | 282 kWh | Road washer | 70,000-90,000 |
For Dar es Salaam the KT3E plus a few KT1D sweepers covers collection and arterial cleaning from one charging depot, sharing the same 262 kWh pack and service kit to cut spare-parts inventory.
Over a 6-year, 320,000 km service life, the KT3E costs about USD 0.20-0.36 per km in energy and USD 0.06-0.10 per km in maintenance, against USD 0.50-0.75 per km in diesel plus USD 0.12-0.18 per km in diesel maintenance. Net saving of USD 0.36-0.57 per km equals USD 115,000-182,000 per truck across the period, enough to offset the FOB price gap inside 3-4 years while meeting the city's clean-air commitments for funded projects.
The Tanzania electric truck market is expanding as Dar es Salaam and Arusha pilot low-emission zones and donor-funded sanitation programs. FOB pricing for the KT3E lands at USD 75,000-95,000 with containerized shipment from Xi'an to Dar es Salaam in 30 to 36 days. Municipalities should budget USD 20,000-40,000 per depot for DC charging, recoverable in 24-32 months on fuel and maintenance savings.
Municipal collection is a routing problem as much as a vehicle problem. The KT3E's 120-180 km shift range lets a Dar es Salaam planner cover the dense city centre and the sprawling Msimbazi corridor on one charge, but the depot location still sets the daily km and therefore the energy bill. Siting the charger within 8 km of the heaviest route halves dead-head kilometres versus a peripheral yard, and the KT3E's regen braking recovers 10-20 percent of the stop-start energy so the effective cost per stop is far below the flat 1.6 kWh/km figure that a buyer might first assume from the spec sheet.
Planning points for the city fleet:
Across a 30 truck fleet a 15 percent reduction in dead-head distance is worth roughly USD 90,000-150,000 a year in avoided energy and tyre wear, a saving that often decides whether a sanitation budget closes in the black once driver wages and finance are paid. The KT3E's quiet running also lets the city add late-evening collection in dense neighbourhoods where diesel bans previously forced daytime work that snarled traffic and drew fines, so the routing gain is both financial and political for the administration defending its clean-air record.
For donor-funded sanitation programs, the zero-exhaust KT3E strengthens grant applications that require measurable emission cuts. A 30 truck fleet displacing diesel saves about 1,200-1,800 tonnes of CO2 per year, a figure that lands directly in the reporting template most climate funds demand, and the 8-year battery warranty aligns with the typical grant monitoring window so the counted benefit persists beyond the project's first audit year.
Operators planning a phased rollout should start with the densest 10 routes and expand as charger capacity grows; the shared 262 kWh spares kit and common training across the KT3E and KT1D keep the learning curve flat. With energy at USD 0.16-0.32 per km and maintenance 35-40 percent below diesel, most Dar es Salaam contracts reach positive cash flow inside 30 months, a timeline that fits the typical three-year sanitation tender and leaves a margin buffer for fuel price shocks during the rainy season.
Contact Shaanxi Fenghan Trading for a route-mapping quote, charging layout and driver training plan for your waste fleet.Ready to electrify your fleet? Contact Shaanxi Fenghan Trading — authorized Dongfeng EV truck exporter. WhatsApp: +86 153 1943 1311 | Email: sales@fenghan-trade.com | dongfengevtrucks.com
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