A U.S. Mack Trucks electric truck customer plans to generate revenue with the trucks by returning unused energy to the electrical grid.

Evergreen Waste Services has taken delivery if five LR Electric refuse trucks, the first of their kind in the state of Delaware. It plans to use bi-directional charging when available, to charge the trucks during off-peak hours and push power back to the power grid during peak hours.

“It’s exciting for Mack to be part of Evergreen Waste’s peak shaving effort to help reduce the amount of purchased energy from its local utility company during peak demand hours,” said Jonathan Randall, president of Mack Trucks North America. “This is just one example of the benefits of BEVs, and we are happy to be able to supply five Mack LR Electric reuse vehicles to Evergreen Waste to help support them in their journey to adopt electric technology.”

The trucks were deployed on May 4 and will serve a residential area in New Castle County, Delaware. Each will make about 600 pick-ups and travel about 40 miles (64 km) a day. Evergreen ordered five charging stations so the trucks can be charged at the same time.

“We are one of the first to do vehicle-to-grid,” said Marcus Stevens, CEO of Evergreen Waste. “We will bring the LR Electric back to our site with about 40% less battery life than when it left. We will then send power back to the grid during peak hours, and then we will charge the vehicle during the off-peak hours of 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. The vehicle will be fully charged and ready to go by 5 a.m.”

He added the investment will be “a grand slam if we discharge energy back to the grid and receive a credit back. That makes this really attractive.”