A Volvo electric test truck has now been driven nearly 1,000 km a day for two years, reaching a total distance of 500,000 km on the road.
A heavy diesel truck can drive around 150,000 km in a year. This Volvo electric test truck, by comparison, has now driven 500,000 km in two years. The heavy-duty truck is part of a joint innovation project between Volvo Trucks and Designwerk Technologies. Volvo and Designwerk collaborate on heavy electric transports, aiming to push boundaries and make the shift to sustainable solutions as soon as possible.
The electric test truck was put into commercial operation in September 2021 at Börje Jönsson Group, headquartered in Helsingborg in Sweden. The test truck runs seven days a week between the cities of Helsingborg and Gothenburg in southern Sweden, which is a one-way distance of 240 km. The truck drives close to 1,000 km a day for six days, stopping to recharge its batteries four times during that time. On day seven, the truck drives for half the day and then has its batteries recharged for the rest of the time.
Commenting on the achievement, Jessica Sandström, SVP Global Product Management at Volvo Trucks says: “500,000 km in only two years is an amazing achievement for this electric truck. It shows that it will be possible to electrify very intense and demanding heavy transports. This is an innovation project, where we are making valuable learnings around, for example, battery performance. These learnings will eventually also benefit our series-produced trucks.”
The electric truck is operated by hauler Börje Jönsson Group. All transport operations from Börje Jönsson have been 100% fossil free since 2013. The 160 trucks in the fleet are either electric or run on HVO100 or bio-LNG.
Ulf Jönsson, Managing Director of Börje Jönsson is very pleased with the test truck: “I’m a firm believer in that road transport must become more sustainable. I’m very satisfied with the performance of this truck, it delivers great uptime and productivity. For the driver it’s a whole different experience driving an electric truck, it’s quiet and there’s no vibrations”, he says, adding:
“In order to increase the number of electric trucks on the road and to be able to operate them in an efficient way, many more high-power charging stations need to be in place. This is where the industry needs to step up.”
“The performance of this truck is a great signal to the market”, says Adrian Melliger, CEO of Designwerk Technologies. “It shows that e-trucks are ready for heavy, daily use and real-life applications.”
Since Volvo Trucks started serial production of all-electric trucks in 2019, the company has taken orders for around 6,000 electric trucks in 42 countries around the world. Today, Volvo offers the industry’s widest electric product range with six electric models in series production, meeting a broad range of needs for transport in and between cities. Globally, Volvo Trucks has set the target that by 2030, half of the trucks sold by the company will be electric.
