(Credit: DFDS)It was announced Wednesday that DFDS, Europe’s largest shipping and logistics company, placed an order for an additional 25 heavy electric trucks from Volvo Trucks: AB Volvo’s Sweden-based truck manufacturing arm. This order extends DFDS’s record order of 100 Volvo FM electric trucks made in October for a total of 125.
Volvo will begin delivering the trucks in Q4 2022. DFDS will use them for transports in its logistics system in Europe.
The Volvo FM electric truck can travel more than 300 miles on a charge. Its fast-charging infrastructure allows drivers to recharge over the time it takes for a lunch break. See a full list of specs here.
After commencing production of electric trucks in 2019, Volvo Trucks now has six electric truck models and possesses a 40% market share of heavy (16+ tonnes) trucks in Europe.
Fleet electrification offers numerous advantages and benefits, including:
Speaking on the topic, Niklas Andersson, Executive Vice President and Head of Logistics Division at DFDS stated:
“Green investments in the heavy transport industry are a prerequisite to reach the emissions reductions needed for DFDS, our customers, and society in general. Our partnership with Volvo Trucks allows DFDS to offer further low-emission transport solutions, already in high demand among customers. We hope such investments will increase the demand for green infrastructure solutions across Europe.”
Roger Alm, Volvo Trucks President echoed this sentiment, commenting,
“We are very proud and happy that it is so clearly becoming a competitive advantage for transporters to be able to offer electric, sustainable transports. This is very encouraging for Volvo Trucks, for our customers and for the climate.”
As public and political pressure mount for companies to reduce their carbon footprint, an increasing number of transportation companies are moving to electrify their fleets. The Maryland Department of Transportation just announced plans to electrify its entire bus fleet. Earlier this month, a school district in El Cajon, California completed a roadmap to convert its 67 school buses from diesel to electric. And back in October, Public utility Xcel Energy and energy management company CLEAResult announced that they will be adding an electric vehicle fleet to their joint operations.
Both private and public efforts aim to facilitate the transition to electric vehicles, for instance by providing planning, implementation, and financing support and building out charging infrastructure.
