DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks have partnered to test the introduction of heavy-duty electric trucks for regional transport. To date, most deployments of electric trucks in Europe have been for shorter distances within urban areas. Now the two firms have initiated a project focusing on longer-distance heavy transport use cases.
DHL and Volvo are conducting pilot tests of a fully electric Volvo FH truck with gross combination weights up to 60 tons. The truck will operate between two DHL Freight logistics terminals in Sweden, a distance of approximately 150 km. The companies hope to gain important experience regarding the setup and operation of an adequate charging infrastructure, and to use the collected insights to optimize the balance among operating distance, load weight and charging points in daily road freight operations.
The Volvo FL Electric and FE Electric trucks for city distribution are in serial production. DHL Supply Chain recently put a new Volvo FL Electric into operation in London. At the end of last year, Volvo Trucks in North America started sales of the VNR Electric, and this year it will begin selling its heavy-duty electric product range in Europe.
“Our aim is to reduce all logistics-related emissions to zero,” says Uwe Brinks, CEO of DHL Freight. “Compared to 2007, our Group’s CO2 efficiency has improved by 35%. However, we need innovative technological solutions and strong partnerships along this journey. I’m confident that our cooperation with Volvo Trucks will support us in achieving our ambitious environmental goals in the road freight sector.”
“We have a longstanding relationship with DHL. Their 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,” says Roger Alm, President of Volvo Trucks. “Our commitment is that our entire truck sales range will be fossil-free by 2040 at the latest.”
Source: Volvo Trucks