Fleet Maintenance - 28

SPOTLIGHT ON TECHNOLOGY TRENDS
to help fleets better predict the remaining charge
based on real-time data collection and can help
fleets take action to adjust the route or contact
the driver as needed. It provides the average
speed of the vehicle, how much energy has been
used, and the remaining battery left. Data points
include items such as topography, traffic congestion, distance to travel, etc.
Pope stressed the importance of preparing
shops for managing high-voltage trucks. This
means after a fleet purchases an electric truck,
dealers must be prepared to provide aftersales
support and service.
"We don't want to make things unique. We [plan
to] integrate the electric truck into our toolbox and
our dealer management programs," Pope said. This
means dealerships will need to educate technicians
ahead of any electric trucks ever entering the shop.

Don't reinvent the wheel

»Volvo introduced its VNR full battery-electric Class 8 tractor during its Volvo LIGHTS showcase. Volvo
plans to enter full commercial production by the end of 2020 at the company's High River Valley plant
in Virginia.
Photo courtesy of Volvo Trucks North America

Volvo LIGHTS establishes path
to managing service and maintenance
of electric heavy duty trucks
Full TCO assessment and
customer collaboration
will drive adoption and
implementation of electric
trucks. A key part of that
is assessment of service
after the spec and sale.
By Erica Schueller

ow will fleets handle the service of electric trucks?
Global truck manufacturer Volvo Trucks looks
to answer this question through its recently
announced Volvo LIGHTS program, a collaborative
holistic approach to manage end-to-end adoption
of full battery-electric trucks for commercial use.
Volvo showcased its Volvo LIGHTS program,
which stands for Low Impact Green Heavy
Transport Solution, in February 2020 during an
event held in Fontana, California. At the event,
Volvo also introduced its VNR full battery-electric
Class 8 tractor. The Volvo LIGHTS program also
highlighted the evaluation of power needs and
establishing charging infrastructure for shops, the

28 Fleet Maintenance | July 2020

service and maintenance for these vehicles, and
the second-life use of the truck's batteries.
During the event, Volvo representatives stressed
the importance of assessing the full total cost of
ownership (TCO) when it comes to evaluating the
possibility of adopting electric trucks into a fleet.
Sales and service will be part of that evaluation. The truck manufacturer has plans to create
a template that will allow other Volvo dealerships
and fleets the means to have a standard process
for servicing electric vehicles.

Start early, plan ahead

When it comes to adding electric trucks to a
commercial fleet, collaboration with the customer
is key, said Brett Pope, director of electric vehicles
for Volvo Trucks North America.
"How do we justify the investments that will be
required for an electric product?" Pope said. "We
need to work through [to determine] the total cost
of ownership and what it costs to operate, what are
the maintenance schedules, and the main barriers
for entering."
This first starts with an evaluation of the
customer's needs, such as business operations,
duty cycles, load patterns, and routes.
Pope shared a tool the company has developed

By relying on tested and proven processes, Volvo
hopes to shape and update the methods used
for servicing electric trucks. The Volvo aftermarket team looked to existing diesel truck
service processes as a template to adjust to full
battery-electric trucks.
"When we first started the [Volvo] LIGHTS project, [the] initial direction was to keep as much
as we have possible," said Jeff Zody, aftermarket
project manager for Volvo Trucks North America.
"We already have dealer networks, parts distribution centers, and tools. That's all in place. We
wanted to integrate the electric truck into the
existing platform."
Because the electric VNR regional haul Class 8
tractor is based off its diesel counterpart, current
Volvo customers running the diesel VNR will
already be somewhat familiar with the product.
Case in point, the VNR electric has a similar interior cab layout and design and the same active and
passive safety systems.
"We already do diagnostics, we already do
connected vehicles, we already have repair information," Zody said. "We have all those systems in
place. There's nothing new we haven't found so far.
We can just use our current systems and integrate.
It looks promising we'll be able to do that."
While utilizing existing platforms currently in
use by Volvo dealers, the integration of connected
vehicles and diagnostic processes means they're
developing predictive maintenance practices from
the start.
In preparation for addressing differentiators
such as spare parts, Zody said the aftermarket
team has been establishing processes for ordering parts from the supplier and parts distribution
centers, and has a pilot inventory on-hand at TEC
Equipment Fontana while the shop prepares to
service electric trucks.
Additionally, new repair methods and technical
information must be created to manage high voltage and the different systems on the electric truck
compared to its diesel counterpart, Zody said.
"As this goes along throughout the year, we're
going to learn more and we're going to understand
'Can we actually have the same or common maintenance schedule?' for example, or is it going to be
different," Zody said.

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