Volvo Trucks delivers electric trucks to US companies

Volvo Trucks North America has delivered the first of five all-electric VNR Electric heavy-duty trucks to New York City-based beer and beverage distributor Manhattan Beer Distributors. This will use the electric trucks to serve customers throughout New York City, Long Island and surrounding areas.

++ This article has been updated. Kindly continue reading below. ++

The model is not one of the Volvo trucks available in Europe: the VNR Electric Truck is a Class 8 semi-truck. Volvo Trucks North America has not yet revealed the trucks further technical specifications. However, from earlier information on the launch of the VNR Electric, it is apparent that the e-truck has a 264 kWh battery, which should provide a range of up to 240 kilometres, depending on the application.

However, Manhattan Beer Distributors’ vehicles will have a slightly shorter range: The 240 kilometres (or 150 miles in the original) are only possible with the “straight truck” variant, i.e. a truck with a box body. According to the published pictures, the customer has opted for the 4×2 tractor unit, which has a permissible gross weight of up to 30 tonnes (66,000 pounds). Here, the range is up to 120 miles or 200 kilometres. A 6×2 tractor unit is also available with a gross vehicle weight of up to 82,000 pounds or 37.2 tonnes.

For Manhattan Beer Distributors, these will not be the first Volvo VNRs, but they will be the first with electric drive. The beverage distributor already has 160 VNRs in its fleet, some of which are CNG-powered. For the operation of the five electric trucks, the corresponding charging infrastructure was built at the Bronx location: The three fast-charging stations each have two charging points and allow charging with up to 150 kW – this means the VNR Electric is 80 per cent charged in 70 minutes.

“As one of the largest beverage distributors in the US, Manhattan Beer Distributors recognises the broad sustainability impact that we can make by eliminating our fleet’s tailpipe emissions,” said Simon Bergson, founder, president & CEO of Manhattan Beer Distributors.

Incidentally, Volkswagen was also involved in financing the five e-trucks – indirectly. Manhattan Beer Distributors has received grants from the New York City Department of Transportation’s (NYC DOT) NYC Clean Trucks Program. This programme is financed by the New York State settlement fund, into which VW had to pay part of its settlement payments of the diesel scandal. Hank Gutman, Commissioner of NYC DOT. “In addition to great beer, these new trucks will deliver cleaner air and quieter streets.”

Update 04.11.2021

Volvo Trucks has sold two more VNR Electric to US logistic companies – and is benefiting itself. Volvo will use the all-electric heavy-duty trucks to transport components to the Volvo Trucks’ plant in Dublin in the US state of Virginia. The e-trucks, ordered by logistics companies Watsontown Trucking Company and Camrett Logistics, are due to leave the plant this year.

volvotrucks.us, volvotrucks.com (update 4 November ’21)