Volvo pushes electric transition

Volvo Trucks recently broadcast an informational presentation via YouTube aimed at transport companies considering the transition to electric trucks, addressing everything from the importance of the change, to how the firm is addressing the challenges of battery-electric vehicle (BEV) range, charging strategies and infrastructure, and the economic case for switching sooner rather than later.

Going hard, going early

Titled The Leap – How to Go Electric, the clip of course showcased Volvo’s own significant efforts in the field of transport electrification to date, but it also assembles a compelling case for the competitive advantages that may be gained by transport operators ‘going early’, where the technology suits the application.

The clip begins with Volvo Trucks President, Roger Alm, personally delivering the a Volvo FM Electric truck to Danish shipping and freight giant, DFDS. The truck is the first of a recent DFDS order for 100 electric trucks, Volvo’s largest BEV order to date.

But it then moves to a summary of the rapidly changing transport landscape courtesy of Volvo Trucks Global Product Management head, Jessica Sandström.

“We are really approaching an historical shift; this has not been seen since we shifted out of the horse and carriage to trucks and buses,” she said.

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With seven per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions stemming from road freight, Volvo Trucks has pledged that 50 per cent of its new trucks will be electric by 2030, while 100 per cent of its new trucks will be fossil-fuel free by 2040.

The creation of a new company, Volvo Energy, will oversee efforts in battery recycling, including how truck batteries could potentially be used as energy storage systems after their usefulness in a truck has come to an end.

“We are really looking into this circular economy way of thinking,” said Ms Sandström.

“We are convinced that most trucks will be electric because that is simply the most energy efficient way of transporting goods,” she added, while stressing that a mix of vehicles – battery-electric, fuel cell, and internal combustion engine (both diesel and gas) – would be needed to serve all its diverse customers’ needs in the years ahead.

“It [electrification] is simply the right thing to do – we can play an important role and really change the world into a more sustainable place,” she said.

“On top of this, we are completely convinced that this is good for business.”

Electric potential

Citing a recent study that showed that 50 per cent of the goods currently transported in Europe were actually transported a total of 300km or less, there was already a huge potential market for BEVs in the region, she said.

“Companies need to make the decision that now is the time to act and really push into this area,” she said.

Volvo’s FL Electric and FE Electric went into production in 2019, while sales of the new FH Electric, FM Electric and FMX Electric have already commenced in Europe, with production slated to begin in the second half of 2022.

These new models will be capable of heavy loads and a potential range of 300km (depending on conditions and application) next year, says Volvo.

Ms Sandström acknowledged that, for a while at least, there will be additional cost involved in going electric, compared to a traditional diesel-engined truck, but there were still many and significant benefits to be gained.

“It will be more expensive in the beginning to go electric, that’s a fact, but I think it’s important that we, first of all, start to value fossil-free transport – there must be a financial value put into that,” she said.

“But on top of this there is really a value in being ‘early out’; the things there that will be good for us at Volvo, we are convinced they will work for our customers too.

“If you start early, if you build the competence around how to utilise this technology, you will have business advantages and be able to capture early new possibilities that you might not have otherwise.”

Customer push

Those advantages span not only the start of recouping investment through saving on fuel costs, to things like attracting new customers who companies are also eager to pursue their own carbon-neutral goals – not to mention the broader environmental benefits in general.

To highlight the point, the presentation includes interviews with representatives from IKEA, which is pursuing a goal of 100 per cent electric home deliveries by 2025, and Amazon, which in Europe seeks to be carbon neutral by 2040 – 10 years ahead of the timeline set out by the Paris Agreement. Amazon says it hopes to have 100,000 electric delivery vehicles on the road by 2030.

“I really hope today we will inspire more companies to dare to take the leap to really make the decision to go in this directly, and together I’m convinced that we can really make this happen,” said Sandström.

Swift progress is also occurring in the US, where the President of Volvo Trucks North America (and former Volvo Group Australia President), Peter Voorhoeve, outlined how Manhattan Beer is also moving towards the electrification of its fleet.

The fourth largest beer distributor in America, the company delivers throughout New York City and already has 150 trucks in its 400-strong fleet running on gas, but it has just ordered its first five electric Volvo VNR models.

Time to act

Volvo Trucks also used the presentation to showcase its investment, alongside other major industry players, in the rollout of a Europe-wide recharging network, and how it will be pushing for faster change at the upcoming COP26 climate change conference, scheduled to commence in Glasgow on October 31.

“We have the knowledge, we have the trucks, we have the information, we can make it happen,” said Volvo Trucks President, Roger Alm.

“I am hopeful for the future and I think that we should all be hopeful for the future, but we need to act now and we need to make it happen, because we need to make this transformation.

“It is so important that we do that because we need to change ourselves, we need to change our way of living, of being and acting, because we need to leave the world that we are living in to the future generation in a better way, in a better state.”