Volvo FL and Volvo FE electric trucks start sales in Europe
Volvo Trucks have just announced the start of sales for their Volvo FL and Volvo FE electric trucks in selected European markets, namely Sweden, Norway, Germany, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands. Serial production is planned for March 2020.
The Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric trucks have been developed for distribution, refuse handling and other urban transport applications. Jonas Odermalm, VP Product Line Electromobility, said: “Global urbanisation requires urban logistics and truck transport with zero emissions and less noise with increasing urgency. With the Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric, we are able to meet both the strong environmental demands as well as the high commercial requirements of our customers.”
With this goal, the Swedish company had the challenge of maximising the payload at the same time as optimising the driving range. The Volvo FL Electric has a capacity for a GVW (gross vehicle weight) of 16 tonnes, while the GVW of the Volvo FE Electric is 27 tonnes. “Volvo Trucks’ solutions will be based on individual business needs that consider several parameters, such as driving cycles, load capacity and route analysis, to use the battery capacity in the most efficient way possible,” continues Jonas Odermalm.
The Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric were developed in close collaboration with “selected customers” operating in Gothenburg, Sweden. “While customer feedback has been positive,” explains Jonas Odermalm, “we do recognise that charging infrastructure is still under development in most cities and we are working alongside both public and private partners to agree on a long-term strategy for the expansion of charging infrastructure. But it’s clear that the pace of development of charging infrastructure needs to increase.”
In summer this year Volvo Group and Samsung SDI formed a strategic alliance to develop battery packs specifically for Volvo electric trucks. Samsung SDI supplies the battery cells and modules to the Volvo Group to assemble at Volvo’s facilities.
Volvo Trucks started delivering its first all-electric trucks in February this year. These include a garbage truck for the waste and recycling company Renova in Hamburg, Germany and a distribution truck for the Swedish Schenker service provider TGM. At the time, Volvo expected to have the electric trucks in serial production by the second half of this year, but now has this planned for March 2020.
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