DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks have partnered to speed up the introduction of heavy-duty electric trucks to be used for regional transport in Europe.
So far, the main use of electric trucks has been for shorter distances within cities and urban areas. DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks have initiated their partnership to focus on long-distance heavy transports. The cooperation includes worldwide first pilot tests of a fully electric Volvo FH truck with gross combination weights up to 60 tons. Starting in March, the truck will operate between two DHL Freight logistics terminals in Sweden, a distance of approximately 150 km.
During the trial, Volvo and DHL will gain important experience and information regarding the setup and operation of adequate charging infrastructure. The collected insights will help to optimize the right balance between operating distance, load weight and charging points in daily road freight operations.
“The transport business is changing rapidly and to be sustainable is an increasingly important business advantage for many of our customers,” says Roger Alm, president of Volvo Trucks. “We offer effective transport solutions that help make a fast transition to fossil-free fuels. DHL’s broad and global expertise in logistics allows us to study the conditions to progress with this technology shift, adapting it to customer needs and their type of transport operation.”
Volvo Trucks says it is driving the shift towards fossil-free transportation by making the transition to electrification as seamless and efficient as possible. This is done by considering every aspect of the eco-system for electrification, including charging, route planning, vehicles, service and other support. The Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric trucks for city distribution are in serial production. DHL Supply Chain recently put a new Volvo FL Electric into operation in London, introducing the first purpose-built fully electric Volvo truck for city distribution in the U.K.
At the end of last year, Volvo Trucks North America started sales of the VNR Electric and this year will mark the sales start in Europe of the heavy-duty electric product range.
Photo: The Volvo FH Electric truck