With more than 5,700 electric trucks delivered to customers in 50 countries around the world Volvo Group has been at the forefront when it comes to making the move to low carbon transport solutions.
This week, the group hit a major milestone as the combined kilometres travelled by Volvo electric trucks in commercial use across the globe ticked over 250 million kilometres.
Volvo say that’s equal to 6,200 laps around the world – and it’s certainly a big feat in just six years since the first electric truck hit the market in 2019.
Volvo Trucks president Roger Alm says while the milestone is great news for the environment, there’s still plenty of work to be done to hit carbon reduction targets.
“It’s great to see this development and how transport companies are embracing the benefits from using electric trucks in daily operations,” Alm says.
‘”Electric trucks are cutting emissions and providing a more comfortable and quieter working environment for drivers.
“Still, we all know that the shift to electric is going way too slowly. We lack the market conditions that would make it profitable for all transport companies to decarbonise transport. This must change if we are to see more electric trucks on the road.”
As an interesting statistic, Volvo says covering the same distance with diesel-powered trucks would have consumed more than 78 million litres of diesel and that by using electric trucks, tailpipe carbon dioxide emissions have been reduced by 213,000 tonnes.
While there are a small number of Volvo heavy electric trucks in fleets here in Australia, the biggest markets for Volvo’s electric trucks are Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the US.
The company’s electric truck portfolio consists of eight models and in 2026, Volvo plans to launch an electric heavy-duty truck with a range of up to 600 km on one charge.
Volvo Trucks say its strategy for decarbonisation includes battery-electric and fuel-cell electric trucks as well as combustion engines powered by renewable fuels including biogas and hydrogen.