Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - October 2023 - 32

SAE/RYAN GEHM
Q&
A
Volvo's ambitious goal: 50% zero-emission
trucks by 2030
Volvo Trucks' target is to be completely fossil-free by 2040.
" If we stop selling products that rely on CO2
by 2040, it
means that our running population [of trucks] out in the
world should be net-zero by 2050, " Jessica Sandström, Senior
Vice President, Product Management and Sustainability at
Volvo Trucks, said during a September media event at the
company's headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden. Nearer
term, the truck maker is targeting 50% of its global sales -
approximately 75,000 units - to be zero-emission by 2030.
Battery-electric trucks will be the
OEM's main technology path to achieve
this aggressive target. " That is the product
we foresee will have the largest volume
over time. It is because it's simply
the most efficient solution, " Sandström
said. In 2024, Volvo Trucks will begin to
build its first battery plant, which will be
in Sweden, where green energy currently
is more plentiful. Battery production
is an energy-intense process,
Sandström noted: " If we are going to
have a net-zero truck, it also means that
all components going into the truck
should be net-zero. "
The OEM's three-pronged strategy to
achieve a net-zero endgame also includes
combustion engines running on
fossil-free fuels and hydrogen fuel cells,
which will come " a bit later, " she said.
Sandström discussed a range of topics
and answered several questions at the
Gothenburg media event.
be the game-changer, because then we will get investment
from all different sectors, if we agree that it's actually costly
to emit CO2
.
To gain the full effect of electric [vehicles], you also need
green energy. The world needs a lot more energy in the years
to come - the global demand will increase by 25 to 30 percent
[by] 2030. After that, we will need even more energy. Of
course, it is important that this comes from solar, wind and
other fossil-free sources. The good thing is that we already
see now in the development that 75 to
80 percent of the global-capacity increase
will come from fossil-free fuels.
Jessica Sandström, SVP of product management
and sustainability at Volvo Trucks.
What needs to happen to accelerate
the adoption of zero-emission trucks?
Public charging network will be key to
scale to many more segments. We
need thousands of charging points for
heavy-duty trucks all around the globe. We believe that it's
[moving] too slow, and we will encourage both the private
sector and the politicians to move in this direction. We also
see that efficient incentive schemes can play an important
role. Looking at the markets that are ahead [in this regard],
like the U.S., in Norway, Sweden, Germany, it really helps to
accelerate the market.
But to have long-term ways of handling this, we believe
" Carbon pricing
will be the
game-changer. "
How are you developing and managing
your supply chain?
We are looking at how this will develop.
Since we have been working with electric
buses [which debuted in 2015], and
even before that starting with our hybrids
in 2005, at that point there were
not so many suppliers who thought
about us as a potential customer. So, we
have been developing the supply base
together. We have been finding the suppliers,
we have done things in-house
when we couldn't find a supplier, and
we have learned together. By no means
are we at the end of that process, and
we are constantly trying to find the right
suppliers for the volumes that we have
in front of us. Because that is also what
happens - it's one type of supplier
when you have low volumes; when we
have the 75,000 [zero-emission trucks
per year], that will of course be a completely
different industrialized system.
Comment on the cellcentric JV with
that carbon pricing could be a good way to do it. If you have
carbon pricing, you are technology-neutral; it's very easy for
our customers to understand how the long-term financial implications
will be for them, and then they can calculate total
cost of ownership in a much more predictable way. That will
32 October 2023
Daimler Truck to develop and produce fuel cells.
They are one of our biggest competitors, but this also shows
that with the transformation we have in front of us, we need to
take unconventional measures. We will have the same fuel-cell
stack, but it does not mean at all that we will have the same
truck. Because the performance of the truck is very much dependent
on how you integrate the fuel cell into the system. How
you optimize when to use what type of energy. How is it in combination
with cooling and batteries and so on. So, you can be
sure that we will still be fierce competitors out in the market,
although we will have one of the components that is the same.
Ryan Gehm
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Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - October 2023

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