DHL Freight, Volvo Trucks Partner to Electrify Heavy-Duty Trucking
February 23, 2021
DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks have partnered to speed up the introduction of heavy-duty electric trucks to be used for regional transport in Europe.
So far, the main use of electric trucks has been for shorter distances within cities and urban areas. DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks have initiated their partnership to focus on long-distance heavy transports. The cooperation includes worldwide first pilot tests of a fully electric Volvo FH truck with gross combination weights up to 60 tons. Starting in March, the truck will operate between two DHL Freight logistics terminals in Sweden, a distance of approximately 150 km.
DTNA
Development of electric vehicles and equipment is nothing new. However, there has been increased activity in this area in recent years as technology has matured and costs have come down. As such, many OEMs are ready to begin bringing their electric-powered solutions to market.
Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE), for instance, announced in mid-2020 it would begin taking orders for its ECR25 and L25 electric machines. Orders are currently being taken in North America and several European countries, with the first deliveries of production machines expected in June 2021.
The company has been developing its electric machines, and testing them with customers, for several years now. Doing so has assured the technology is proven and reliable for various construction applications. During bauma CHINA 2020, Volvo CE announced two new electric excavators would be entering customer trials the EC55 electric and EC230 Electric. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, the excavators are de
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NFI’s journey into electric truck deployment began in 2018. Now, the fleet is testing out 10 electric vehicles from Daimler at its Chino, California, facility.
The test program got off to a quick start, once NFI’s senior vice president of fleet services, Bill Bliem, and others began exploring options with OEMs. A year later, we had our first electric Daimler tractor in place, he said. They partnered with us from pitch to implementation.
It’s early in the process, but Bliem said he is pleased
with where things stand. While it’s a small dip into the zero-emissions pool, the New-Jersey-based company’s experiment is providing plenty of information for future investment.
Volvo Trucks Launches One-Stop Online Parts Shop
Photo: Volvo Trucks North America
Though COVID-19 vaccines have begun rolling out, the demand for remote services is higher than ever. With the launch of a new one-stop online parts shop called PartsASIST, Volvo Trucks North America is taking yet another step toward enhancing customer convenience.
As of yesterday, all Volvo Trucks North America customers can register for PartsASIST, an evolution of the existing Volvo SELECT Part Store that enables them to order parts from the manufacturer’s dealership network across the United States and Canada.
Volvo says the new 24/7 service comes with several notable upgrades and features compared to the last one, including “performance up to 10 times faster” and a more streamlined process that saves you steps and time between logging in, searching and ordering parts, and tracking their delivery.