Volvo Trucks take electric to the market!

Volvo Trucks are hedging their bets when it comes to alternative fuels with a mixture of electric battery (BEV) and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) solutions, which is understandable as a truck in an urban delivery environment has a different power need and profile than a long-haul truck. Interestingly there’s little mention of fuel cells unlike one or two of their competitors with LNG appearing to be their alternative fuel of choice for long-haul, but that could change ??

Give Volvo Trucks their due they have been developing electric battery solutions as early as any European based manufacturers, with versions of their rigid FE and FL ranges available for trial many years ago.

Perhaps limited sales volumes??

During these trials perhaps the one important message we have learnt is that electric trucks are not for everyone, even for those that may think its perfect for them and it looks like Jonas Odermalm of the Volvo Trucks emobility team agrees as he confirms ” the availability of electric trucks will be based on individual business needs that consider a number of parameters, such as driving cycles, load capacity and route analysis, to use the battery capacity in the most efficient way possible”.

Despite all this I still believe that at this current time, anyone buying an electric truck whether in the US and Europe ( China has the volume and comparative history in electric automotive transport) are still basically an extended part of any manufacturers research and development department and they should get invited to the departments Christmas office party !

What are the key markets for Electrification ?

Anyone looking for the future potential markets in truck electrification should look no further than the work already conducted by Volvo Trucks and Mercedes-Benz ( Daimler). Both these key players appear to see the following as the major market opportunties :

  • Refuse Vehicles
  • Construction
  • Airports
  • Ports
  • Inner City distribution

So over the coming years we can expect a series of new electric products aimed at the above sectors and for those outside these sectors – fuel cell, LNG or good old Euro 6 diesel and any re-incarnations we may have of it over the next 5-10 years !!

You may also want to read : http://electricvanandtruck.com/volvo-trucks-keep-delivering-electric-trucks/

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