Volvo’s electric truck orders are up 141 per cent
Volvo Trucks received 486 orders for electric trucks in the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 141 per cent compared to the same period last year. This number is expected to increase over the course of the year as the Swedish company looks to bring its electric trucks to even more countries.
Volvo Trucks has sold nearly 5,000 electric trucks in around 40 countries since launching its first electric truck in 2019 – mainly in Europe and North America, but also in countries such as Australia and Morocco. Later this year, the company will start selling electric trucks to customers in South Africa, South Korea, India and markets in Latin America.
In addition to the aforementioned 486 orders, 600 of Volvo’s heavy-duty electric trucks weighing 16 tonnes or more were registered in Q1 in Europe alone. That was more than four times the number registered in Q1 2022, when 134 electric Volvo Trucks were registered.
The markets with the most electric truck registrations (including all brands) in the first quarter of 2023 were Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the US. The distribution is similar for the 486 newly placed orders, with most coming “from countries in the northern part of Europe, including the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and Sweden”, according to the company’s statement. In this case, the manufacturer did not break down the figures in more detail.
According to its account, Volvo Trucks is the market leader for heavy-duty electric trucks in Europe and North America after the first quarter of 2023. The manufacturer hopes that electric trucks make up half of its global sales by 2030 and 100 per cent by 2040. So far, Volvo Truck offers only battery-electric vehicles. But an H2 truck based on the Volvo FH was recently tested on Swedish roads for the first time, with series production set to start in the second half of this decade.
In 2019, the first electric trucks of the lighter FE Electric and FL Electric models rolled off the production line. Since September 2022, the first variants of the heavy FH, FM and FMX series with electric drive are also built in series at the Gothenburg plant. The manufacturer plans to release more variants this year and kick off the assembly of electric trucks at the plant in Ghent, Belgium.
“Our commitment to sustainable transport is clearly paying off. We are determined to work closely together with our customers to decarbonize truck transport”, says Roger Alm, President of Volvo Trucks.
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