Volvo Trucks believes the time is right for an upswing in electrification of heavy road transport, as it announces sales of three heavy-duty all-electric models will start this year.
Large national and international operators are said to be showing an interest in electric vehicles. This is being driven by their climate goals, as well as consumers’ demand for decarbonisation and cleaner transport solutions.
Roger Alm, President of Volvo Trucks, said: “More and more transport companies are realising they need to start their electrification journey right now, both with the environment in mind and for competitive reasons to satisfy customer requirements for sustainable shipping. With Volvo Trucks’ wide and deep offering, it is totally feasible for far more transport companies to go electric.”
With sales starting of the new electric Volvo FH and FM models, electrified transport is now possible not only for urban areas but also for regional traffic between cities. In addition, the electric Volvo FMX model has created ways to make construction transport operations both quieter and cleaner.
Production of the electric models for Europe will start next year. They will join the Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric for urban transport that have been in serial production since 2019 for the same market. In North America, the sale of VNR Electric started in December last year. With the models, Volvo Trucks currently has a line-up of six medium and heavy-duty electric trucks, which is described as the most complete commercial electric truck range in the industry.
Volvo Trucks’ electric portfolio makes it possible to offer a contribution to lower the climate impact from road freight, which according to official statistics account for about 6% of total CO2 emissions in the EU.
Roger explained: “There is huge potential to electrify truck transports in Europe, and also in other parts of the world, in the very near future. To prove this, we have set the ambitious goal to have electric trucks account for at least half of our sales in Europe by 2030. And these three new heavy-duty trucks we are now launching mark a giant step towards reaching this target.”
