Meet San Diego’s new battery-run street sweeper. (City of San Diego)
Environment, Metro Area

Clean Energy, Clean Streets

By Frank Sabatini Jr.

The people have spoken.

After a public call to come up with a name for San Diego’s first electric-powered street cleaner, the vehicle was recently christened as SWEEP-E. The name was among a few finalists that ultimately won by popular vote.

The green-energy sweeper kicks into gear this month. It will follow a weekly schedule that rotates throughout several urban neighborhoods such as The Gaslamp Quarter, East Village, Mission Hills, North Park, and Hillcrest. It will also be utilized in sections of Mission Valley and Linda Vista.

According to Anthony Santacroce, senior public information officer for the City of San Diego, SWEEP-E is designed to “service separated bikeways, tight alleyways and other spots around the city that necessitate a small sweeper.”

He added that when fully charged, SWEEP-E’s average per-run time is 8 to 12 hours.

The city will eventually start adding more electric vehicles to the fleet as part of its ongoing Climate Action Plan that launched earlier this year.