Norway: Optimera to purchase up to 50 electric trucks

Norwegian building materials supplier Optimera announced the procurement of 40 to 50 large electric trucks and other heavy electric vehicles over the next few years. Optimera has already put a first Volvo FH Electric into operation and will use it primarily for transporting building materials in the Oslo region.

Based on the practical experience with this vehicle, the company plans to procure further heavy-duty electric trucks in the coming years. Concrete requirements are not formulated in the communication. Optimera points out that the Volvo semi-trailer with its 540 kWh battery has a stated range of 300 kilometres.

As the public charging network for heavy EVs is not yet sufficiently developed, Optimera has built its own 184-kW fast chargers installed at six regional warehouses and the large new central warehouse in Vestby. Outside the supply warehouse in Oslo, the company is also starting to build its own substation to supply power to its growing electric fleet.

According to the company, the fast chargers will be sufficient to supply the electric trucks with electricity for the upcoming routes while they are being loaded up with new goods. Overnight, the trucks are charged at 22 kW at the depot so that they can start the day shift with as full a battery as possible – AC charging at 22 kW is only used to top up the battery, so a full charge would not be possible overnight.

“The Achilles heel here is the charging capacity. For nearby deliveries, we can now use our own charging facilities so our vehicles don’t have to queue up at public charging stations,” says Gard Erik Dahl, the company’s logistics director. “At the same time, to be able to use electric transport on longer journeys, we will be fully dependent on public charging infrastructure in the future. The publicly accessible charging network is not sufficiently suitable from today’s perspective. That’s why we are building it ourselves.”

Optimera also has nine larger electric crane trucks. Three new ones were ordered and will go into service later this year. From 2024, the company plans to buy electric crane trucks only. Optimera has just over 100 crane trucks that comprise the company’s core fleet. The company makes around 125,000 deliveries to construction sites from its ten logistics warehouses across Norway per year.

mynewsdesk.com (in Norwegian)