As part of a partnership between the Volvo Group, California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD), and other industry stakeholders in transportation and electrical charging infrastructure, Volvo Trucks will introduce all-electric truck demonstrators in California next year and commercialize them in North America in 2020.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has preliminarily awarded $44.8 million to SCAQMD for the Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions) project, involving 16 partners. Volvo LIGHTS is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts cap-and-trade dollars to work in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment, particularly in disadvantaged communities.
The demonstration units will be based on the technology currently being used in the Volvo FE Electric, which Volvo Trucks presented in May and will begin selling in Europe in 2019.
“This is an excellent opportunity to show the end-to-end potential of electrification,” states Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America. “From solar energy harvesting at our customer locations, to electric vehicle uptime services, to potential second uses for batteries, this project will provide invaluable experience and data for the whole value chain.”
A variety of smart technologies will be used – including remote diagnostics, geofencing, and the company’s Web-based service management platform – to monitor all truck performance aspects of the project and maximize vehicle uptime.
Specifically, Volvo Trucks will deploy eight multi-configuration, battery-electric Class 8 demonstration units and an additional 15 pre-commercial and commercial units throughout California’s South Coast Air Basin.
The project will also integrate non-truck battery-electric equipment, non-proprietary chargers and solar energy production equipment.
The project is expected to reduce an estimated 3.57 tons of criteria pollutants (defined air pollutants) and 3,020 tons of greenhouse gases annually.