As part of a partnership between the Volvo Group, California’s South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and industry leaders in transportation and electrical charging infrastructure, Volvo Trucks plans to introduce all-electric truck demonstrators in California next year.
Volvo said it will commercialize the electric trucks in North America in 2020.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) preliminarily awarded $44.8 million to SCAQMD for the Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions) project. The project will involve 16 partners, and transform freight operations at the facilities of two of the United States’ top trucking fleets.
Volvo LIGHTS is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment—particularly in disadvantaged communities.
“This is yet another important step towards our vision zero emissions,” said Claes Nilsson, president of Volvo Trucks. “We are convinced that electrified truck transport will be a key driver of sustainable transports, and we’re proud to contribute the Volvo Group’s expertise to this innovative public-private partnership.”
The demonstration units will be based on the technology currently being used in the Volvo FE Electric, which Volvo Trucks presented in May and said it will begin selling in Europe in 2019.
“This is an excellent opportunity to show the end-to-end potential of electrification,” said Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America. “From solar energy harvesting at our customer locations, to electric vehicle uptime services, to potential second uses for batteries, this project will provide invaluable experience and data for the whole value chain.”
A variety of smart technologies will be used, including remote diagnostics, geofencing and the company’s web-based service management platform, to monitor all truck performance aspects of the project, and maximize vehicle uptime.
Project highlights from Volvo:
- Volvo Trucks will deploy eight multi-configuration battery Class 8 electric demonstration units (GVW +15 tons), and an additional 15 precommercial and commercial units, throughout California’s South Coast Air Basin.
- The project also will integrate non-truck battery-electric equipment, non-proprietary chargers and solar energy production equipment.
- The project will reduce an estimated 3.57 tons of criteria pollutants (defined air pollutants) and 3,020 tons of greenhouse gases annually.
