A refuse vehicle includes a chassis, a body, a power source, and a tailgate. The chassis is coupled to a plurality of wheels. The body assembly is coupled to the chassis and defines a refuse compartment configured to store refuse material. The tailgate comprises a refuse receiving portion, a tailgate compaction assembly, and an electrically-driven actuation mechanism. The refuse receiving portion is configured to receive refuse material. The tailgate compaction assembly is selectively actuatable to compact the refuse material received by the refuse receiving portion into the refuse compartment. The electrically-driven actuation mechanism is powered by the power source and is configured to selectively actuate the tailgate compaction assembly.