Volvo Trucks is aiming to have electric models account for half of its sales in Europe by 2030 and is marking the sales start of three new heavy-duty all-electric models this year.
In a company statement, it says “the time is right for a rapid upswing in electrification of heavy road transport”.
It has a “positive outlook” on EVs and says its trucks will be able to meet “a broad variety of transport needs”.
“In the EU for example, almost half of all truck transports could be electrified in the near future,” the company says.
“Large national and international transport buyers are showing strong interest in electric vehicles. This is being driven by their own ambitious climate goals, as well as consumers demand for decarbonisation and cleaner transports.”
Volvo Trucks president Roger Alm says it is “totally feasible for far more transport companies to go electric”.
“More and more transport companies are realising they need to start their electrification journey right now, both with the environment in mind and for competitive reasons to satisfy customer requirements for sustainable shipping,” he says.
Six EV models
Volvo Trucks is releasing the new electric Volvo FH and Volvo FM models for urban and regional transport while the new electric Volvo FMX is targeting construction transport.
Sales will begin this year and volume production will start in 2022 for the European market.
They join the Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric for urban transport that have been in serial production since 2019 for the same market.
In North America, sales of the Volvo VNR Electric started in December 2020. In Australia, Volvo Group’s manufacturing plant at Wacol has also unveiled its first Volvo FL Electric.
With the sales start of the new truck models, Volvo Trucks now has a line-up of six medium and heavy duty electric trucks, which makes it the most complete commercial electric truck range in the industry.
Volvo Trucks says its electric portfolio could cover around 45% of all goods transported in Europe today. This is based on Eurostat statistics which show this is the percentage of all goods transported throughout the region which travelled a distance of less than 300 km.
“There is huge potential to electrify truck transports in Europe, and also in other parts of the world, in the very near future,” Alm says.
“To prove this, we have set the ambitious goal to have electric trucks account for half of our sales in Europe by 2030. And these three new heavy-duty trucks we are now launching mark a giant step towards reaching this target.”
Hydrogen fuel cell
Volvo Trucks is also planning to release hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to cover long-distance transport as part of a 50/50 joint venture with Daimler Trucks.
“This technology is developing rapidly and our ambition is also to make the long driving distances electrified, using both batteries and fuel cells,” Alm says.
“Our aim is to start selling fuel-cell electric trucks in the second part of this decade and we are confident we can make this happen.”
Volvo Trucks’ electric vehicle offering for Europe:
• Volvo FH Electric, for regional and intercity transport
• Volvo FM Electric, a versatile truck for heavy local transports and regional distribution
• Volvo FMX Electric, for cleaner and quieter construction transport
• Volvo FE Electric, for local and city distribution, waste transport
• Volvo FL Electric, for local and city distribution
The programme also includes the Volvo VNR Electric for the North American market.
Performance:
• Volvo FH, FM and FMX Electric: Range up to 300 km. Continuous power 490 kW. Max torque 2400 Nm. Battery capacity up to 540 kWh. Gross combination weight (GCW) up to 44 tons
• Volvo FE Electric: Range up to 200 km. Continuous power 330 kW. Max torque up to 850 Nm. Battery capacity up to 264 kWh. Gross combination weight (GCW) 27 tons
• Volvo FL Electric: Range up to 300 km. Continuous power 165 kW. Max torque up to 425 Nm. Battery capacity up to 396 kWh. Gross combination weight (GCW) 16 tons
