Volvo Trucks will deliver fully electric heavy-duty trucks to Amazon in Germany by year end. The 20 Volvo FH Electric trucks are expected to drive more than 1 million road kilometres annually, fueled with electricity instead of diesel.
Heavy goods vehicles and other commercial vehicles make up around 36% of Germany’s domestic transport emissions, which makes road transport decarbonization an important issue to address, says Volvo. “Big actors in the transport business play a key role in leading the industry’s efforts to lower its carbon footprint. Therefore, I’m glad that Amazon is working with us to help reduce their emissions in longer and heavier transport assignments,” said Jessica Sandström, senior vice president of Product Management at Volvo Trucks.
Volvo Trucks started the series production of heavy-duty electric trucks in September this year and the availability of electric trucks for inter-city and regional haulage marks an important milestone for decarbonizing road transport.
“Globally, we now have six electric truck models ready to order and in series production to meet the increasing demand for decarbonizing goods transports. This is an encouraging step forward for reducing climate change impacts,” added Sandström.
The electric versions of its most important product range – the heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks – will play a vital role in reaching Volvo Trucks global target that in 2030 50% of all new trucks sold will be battery or fuel cell electric. These electric heavy-duty trucks can operate at a total weight of 44 tonnes and the three models mentioned represent around two thirds of the company’s sales.
For Amazon, the trucks will replace their diesel counterparts and play a key role in electrification initiatives through its transportation chain.
“Amazon is committed to decarbonizing its fleet, and the middle mile has been a notoriously hard-to-abate sector,” explained Andreas Marschner, vice president Transportation Services Europe at Amazon. “That’s why welcoming these electric heavy goods vehicles from Volvo into our fleet is such a critical milestone. We’re operating one of the fastest-growing commercial transportation electrification programs, and we’ll continue to invest and innovate to decarbonize and deliver packages to customers with zero emissions.”
