Volvo Opens Orders For Electric Trucks In South Africa

Volvo Trucks has created extra large electric trucks to help customers in the construction industry transition to more sustainable transportation.

Heavy vehicles used on construction sites or other campus-based industries such as mining must often travel short distances at well-defined intervals. Vehicles in this industry are ideal for electrification. Managing the fleet for things like charging and installing charge stations at depots or on-site in campus-based contexts becomes much easier.

Volvo Trucks has chosen this sector as one of the most important to focus on and has developed a line of heavy electric trucks tailored to the construction industry.

Companies may now address the growing demand for vehicles with lower noise levels and zero exhaust emissions at and around urban construction sites by deploying electric trucks. The construction industry is also seeing an increase in demand for electric vehicles, owing to the emphasis on zero-emission zones in cities and the requirement for construction businesses to satisfy climate goals as part of their broader ESG commitments.

Volvo Trucks has created extra large electric trucks to help customers in the construction industry transition to more sustainable transportation. Electric versions of conventional trucks with a single chassis and built-on applications for a wide range of superstructures, such as tippers, mixers, and cranes, are now available.

Volvo Trucks claims that the new electric trucks are versatile, thanks to a number of cab and battery configurations and axle layout options. This enables a wider range of chassis and the potential of a lower wheelbase, down to 3,900 mm, creating the freedom to customize the truck to perform a variety of construction jobs.

Clients can select battery packs ranging from six to two batteries to meet their individual range and payload requirements. These new trucks have battery capacities ranging from 180 to 540 kWh.

On electric trucks, three types of power take-off (PTO) solutions permit the installation of electric or mechanical superstructures: electric ePTO, transmission PTO, and electro-mechanical PTO.

According to Volvo, both the electro-mechanical and transmission solutions provide good chances to minimize energy usage and avoid excessive noise. Volvo Trucks is the only worldwide truck manufacturer that already has a full range of electric trucks in series production.

The company's goal is to have half of its global new truck sales be electric by 2030 at the latest. From May 2023, Volvo Trucks South Africa will begin delivering its first electric extra heavy trucks to local customers.