Get your (electric) motor running. A new lineup of heavy-duty Volvo trucks hit the road in 2021.
The company is now testing electric Volvo FH, Volvo FM, and Volvo FMX trucks, which will be used for transportation and construction purposes and have a potential range of about 186 miles, depending on battery configuration.
They’ll go on sale in Europe in 2021, with volume production beginning in 2022. Customers in North America have the option to purchase the Volvo VNR Electric truck, which is designed for regional transport, starting Dec. 3, 2020.
“To reduce the impact of transport on the climate, we need to make a swift transition from fossil fuels to alternatives such as electricity,” Roger Alm, president of Volvo Trucks, said in a press release. “But the conditions for making this shift, and consequently the pace of the transition, vary dramatically across different hauliers and markets, depending on many variables such as financial incentives, access to charging infrastructure and type of transport operations.”
Volvo Trucks started making the Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric trucks last year; they’ve mostly been used for garbage collection and other city-related efforts in Europe. Long-haul battery-electric and fuel cell electric trucks are still a ways out, though Volvo says to expect them “in this decade.” Volvo also plans to start selling hydrogen fuel cell-powered electric trucks in the late 2020s. The goal, Volvo Trucks says, is for its entire product range to be fossil-free by 2040.
Volvo Cars has pledged that every vehicle launched from 2019 onward will have an electric motor.
