Volvo Trucks South Africa (SA) should start the local testing of electric trucks within the next two years, says Volvo Trucks SA product support senior manager Eric Parry.
“Sales will be determined by various factors but, most importantly, the investment and availability of charging facilities en route, or at customers’ facilities.
“Our optimistic outlook is for possible sales to start within three years.”
This move by Volvo Trucks SA follows the announcement by its Swedish parent company that it will aim for 50% of all global new-vehicle sales to be electric by 2030.
By 2040, the goal is for 100% of global sales to be fossil-fuel free, whether that will be through the sale of battery-electric of fuel-cell electric trucks, says global product management senior VP Jessica Sandström.
She says the transformation to electric mobility will be a “quick shift”. She points to New York, where the streets were filled with horses in 1900, but cars by 1915.
The truck maker will next year launch a new vehicle with a 300 km range.
Sandström says a study of European road freight transport has shown that 50% of all goods travel 300 km or less a day by road.
Swedish furniture and goods giant Ikea has also already indicated that it wants all of its home deliveries to be electric by 2025.
Already 100% of its deliveries in Amsterdam are electric, and 90% in China.
In fact, Ikea has deployed electric vehicles in 100 cities already.
One Hundred Trucks
Volvo Trucks has received an order for 100 Volvo FM Electric trucks from DFDS, Northern Europe's largest shipping and logistics company.
The deal is the largest commercial order to date for Volvo’s electric products, and one of the largest ever for heavy electric trucks worldwide.
“Together we are showing the world that electrified heavy truck transport is a viable solution already today,” says Volvo Trucks president Roger Alm.
First deliveries of the Volvo FM Electric to DFDS will start in the fourth quarter of next year, and continue throughout 2023.
The trucks will be used for both short and long transport in the DFDS logistics system in Europe.
The FM Electric can carry a weight of 44 t (gross combination weight) and has a range of up to 300 km. With a top-up charging session during lunch, this distance can be extended.
The vehicles can be charged via overnight depot charging (each truck comes with an AC charger) and via high-power charging on route (DC charging).
Volvo Trucks believes that the electrification trend in the heavy-truck market is accelerating.
In Europe, a few hundred trucks above 16 t have been registered so far this year. Of these, about 40% are Volvo electric trucks.
Volvo Trucks started serial production of electric trucks in 2019.
The product range now includes six electric truck models – the Volvo FH, Volvo FM, Volvo FMX, Volvo FE, Volvo FL and the Volvo VNR, sold in North America.