Scania to trial electric timber truck

Hastening its push towards zero-emission, fossil-fuel-free transport, Scania has announced it will shortly begin trialing a new electric timber truck with a ‘technical capability’ of a total weight of up to 80 tonnes.

Working in collaboration with SCA, Europe’s largest private forest owner and timber, pulp and packaging heavyweight, Scania will begin testing and evaluating the electric truck next year, the vehicle transporting timber in Sweden between the forest and SCA's papermill.

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The prototype is said to have a maximum total weight capacity of up to 64 tonnes on public roads, and 80 tonnes on private roads, challenging the notion that battery electric vehicles are ill-suited to heavy loads and longer journeys.

SCA is an eminently suitable partner for the trials, as it transports around 8.5 million cubic metres of wood each year, utilising a fleet of 265 timber trucks in collaboration with 87 haulage contractors.

”The cooperation with Scania is an important way for us to jointly find innovative solutions for sustainable transport,” says Hans Djurberg, Head of Sustainability, SCA.

“Electric timber trucks will be a strong contribution to SCA’s work with sustainability, where we are part of the solution for a fossil-free world. By running just one electric truck between Gimonäs and Obbola, we can reduce our carbon emissions by about 55,000 kg per year.

But Jörgen Bendz, Head of Wood Supply, SCA, says there’s a pressing need for the infrastructure to facilitate the take-up of battery electric transport solutions.

“As we now demonstrate that it is also possible to electrify very heavy transport, there is a growing need to build out charging infrastructure for heavy vehicles,” he says.

“SCA can further increase our contribution to help fight climate change, but a serious effort must be made to build out charging infrastructure. This responsibility ultimately falls on the government.”

Fredrik Allard, Head of E-mobility at Scania, says the collaboration with SCA was a good example of what is possible, when it comes to the shift to emissions-free transport.

”The key to reaching zero emissions in transport is electrification and we will get there together with customers and other stakeholders that share our values,” he says.

“Partnerships like this one with SCA, where we are early out and demonstrating what is possible, is a clear sign of a change of pace that is needed for us to be fossil free and deliver on the targets of the Paris agreement.

“An electric timber truck is a symbol for something pretty cool. Transport of timber specifically has been talked about as something that may never be possible to electrify. The developments of the past few years, together with what we are now presenting with SCA, show just how quickly things are progressing with regards to both vehicles and batteries.”