Swedish multinational manufacturing company Volvo Groups has now started testing the electric heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks.
The vehicle which has a gross combination weight of up to 44 tones and will be used for local transport and urban construction operations in Europe. Depending on the battery configuration the range could be up to 300 km.
The company is expecting to commence the truck’s sale by next year and mass production by 2022. From 2021, Volvo will start to sell a full range of battery-driven electric trucks in Europe for distribution, regional transport and urban construction operations.
In 2019, the Swedish company started to manufacture the Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric for city distribution and refuse operations (disposal of solid waste), primarily in Europe. From this year December, the sales of Volvo VNR Electric trucks for regional transport will begin in North America.
“By rapidly increasing the number of heavy-duty electric trucks, we want to help our customers and transport buyers to achieve their ambitious sustainability goals. We’re determined to continue driving our industry towards a sustainable future,” says Roger Alm, President of Volvo Trucks.
Transition to fossil-free alternatives
Volvo Trucks targets to start the sales of electric trucks powered by hydrogen fuel cells by the second half of this decade. The key objective of Volvo Trucks’ is to transform its entire product range to fossil-free by 2040.
Roger Alm President – Volvo Trucks
“To reduce the impact of transport on the climate, we need to make a swift transition from fossil fuels to alternatives such as electricity. But the conditions for making this shift, and consequently the pace of the transition, vary dramatically across different hauliers and markets, depending on many variables such as financial incentives, access to charging infrastructure and type of transport operations.”
As the transition to sustainable energy needs a lot of financial and infrastructural preparations most transport companies choose to make this change over to electric operation in stages. During the conversion period many of the companies would have to bring a mixed fleet of trucks powered by different fuels.
Volvo Truck aims to bring a smooth transformation to sustainable mode so that transportation operators begin to adjust to it. The challenge in front of the company is to develop a fossil-free solution which, at the same time offers the hauliers the required level of profitability and productivity.
“Our primary task is to ease the transition to electrified vehicles. We’re doing this by offering holistic solutions that include route planning, correctly specified vehicles, charging equipment, financing services and long-term security,” says Mr. Roger Alm.
The vehicle, which has a gross combination weight of up to 44 tones and depending on the battery configuration the range could go up to 300 km.
Green Finance Framework
The Volvo Group has also announced its entry into the green finance market, as part of its vision of sustainability and to support the transition with every possible department of the organization.
The Green framework will enable the group to issue green bonds and other instruments like green loans and green commercial papers. The fund raised from the issuance will be assigned for projects like research, development and manufacturing of electric vehicles, machines and engines with zero carbon emission.
The company also plans to use these funds in Volvo Financial Services to provide green loans to customers who buy the electric products from the group.
