First electric Volvo truck lands in SA

Once the homologation of Volvo’s first extra-heavy trucks has been completed, it will be handed over to KDG Logistics.

Eric Parry, Volvo Trucks SA’s sustainable solutions manager, took the Volvo FM 4×2 truck-tractor through its paces on a trip from the company’s dealer in Durban to its facilities in Johannesburg – a 600km journey, with only one stop for charging.

“We aimed to prove that an extra-heavy electric truck like this can drive long distances. Even though we didn’t carry any payload, it still gave us a good indication of just what this truck is capable of,” said Parry. “Generally, battery-electric trucks are used in regional distribution, operating in and around cities, running from distribution centres to stores and such. But with proper planning, customers will be able to do so much more.”

Volvo Trucks SA’s extra-heavy electric truck range includes the FH, FM and FMX models in truck-tractor and rigid configurations. Axle combinations will also include 4×2 through to 8×4 models. The full load on the first FM units will be 44 tonnes gross combination mass. With a driveline that has 490kW of power and 2 400Nm, it will definitely not struggle to get the job done.

“Irrespective of local challenges when it comes to load-shedding and infrastructure, many customers are looking at setting up their own charging infrastructures to accommodate electromobility and their own sustainability goals,” said Parry.

“These trucks can run meaningful kilometres in a day, and if you have your charging setup optimised, you can extend that range quite comfortably and match your operations to it. Within regional operations, public charging is not really relevant for these types of fleets, and having control of their own charging will allow customers to fix their costs of energy.”

These electric Volvo Trucks have been designed to operate in many different environments and are perfect for South African conditions.

Source: Tanje Wandrag – Stargazer PR