Volvo announces new electric axle for extended range

Volvo Trucks said at their press conference that the new axle is designed to free up space for more batteries, which means even longer range for Volvo’s battery electric trucks.

Volvo Trucks aready has the widest range of battery electric trucks in the industry, with six different models in series production.

The new e-axle, presented at the IAA fair in Hannover, Germany, allows for more batteries by integrating the electric motors and the transmission into the rear axle. More batteries mean longer range, which creates more opportunities for electric trucks.

For the fuel-cell electric trucks, which will be introduced in the second half of this decade, the additional space will come in handy for larger-capacity hydrogen storage.

“This is a breakthrough for [our] electric trucks and a clear signal that there will be a huge demand for public fast-chargers for heavy trucks in the near future, not the least along highways,” said Jessica Sandström, SVP Global Product Management at Volvo Trucks.

Volvo Trucks will start serial production of trucks with the new e-axle in a few years from now and it will complement the current line-up of battery electric trucks.

At present, the recently-released heavy-duty electric trucks rely on their three electric motors running through an existing 12-speed automated manual transmission then through a prop shaft to the rear axle.

“We will continue with our versatile battery electric trucks that are already in production. They can currently cover a wide range of transport assignments. In a few years, we will add this new rear e-axle for customers covering longer routes than today,” continues Jessica Sandström.

Volvo Trucks said a the announcement that it has a three-path strategy to reach zero emissions: battery-electric, fuel-cell electric and combustion engines that run on renewable fuels like biogas, HVO or even green hydrogen.

“Different technical solutions are needed to tackle climate change, since the availability of energy and fuel infrastructure differs between countries and regions and also between different transport assignments,” concluded Jessica Sandström.