Though we're still a long way from a Mr. Fusion atop your car, one town in the UK is powering their electric garbage trucks with the very refuse they collect.

The town of Huddersfield in central Britain unveiled their new Ford Transit outfitted for garbage duty and running on only electricity. The conversion was done by long-time electric conversion specialists Smith Edison, by fitting a 40kWh lithium-ion battery pack to the Transit. That gives the Ford a top speed of 50 MPH, a range of 100 miles and a charging time of 6-8 hours.

In this case it's the charging which makes this story interesting. The town operates a garbage-incinerating power station which burns the trash the truck collects and then uses the energy to charge the truck. The station produces enough power to push ten megawatts of electricity into the grid in addition to powering up the truck. If you ask us, it sounds like a good way to turn trash into treasure.

[RegHardware via GizMag]

Send an email to Ben, the author of this post, at .