In September, Volvo Trucks started series production of heavy-duty electric, 44 tonne GCW trucks. Volvo is the first global truck manufacturer to achieve this. Additionally, the company produced some of the electric trucks with fossil-free steel—a first in the world.
Jessica Sandström, senior vice president of product management at Volvo Trucks, says Volvo’s journey to net zero emissions includes making vehicles fossil free in operation. It also includes fully replacing the material in Volvo trucks with fossil-free and recycled alternatives.
FOSSIL-FREE STEEL
The Swedish steel manufacturer SSAB produces the fossil-free steel. SSAB makes the steel by using a completely new technology with fossil-free electricity and hydrogen. The result is a significantly lower climate impact and an important step toward a net-zero emissions value chain. Among the customers that will have fossil-free steel in some of their electric trucks are Amazon and DFDS and, through the transport company Simon Loos, Unilever.
“At Amazon, we are on the way to make all of our operations net-zero carbon by 2040,” says Andreas Marschner, vice president transportation services Europe at Amazon. “We need partners like Volvo to make this transition happen.”
Niklas Andersson, EVP of DFDS Logistics Division, says the company committed to deliver greener transport and logistics solutions. “Any step in the green transition of logistics brings us closer to a carbon-free society,” Andersson says. He also says DFDS was happy to learn that Volvo produced some of its new electric trucks with fossil-free steel.
Volvo used the first steel produced with hydrogen in the electric truck’s frame rails, the backbone of the truck. As the availability of fossil-free steel increases, it will also be introduced in other parts of the truck.
Today, around 30% of the materials in a new Volvo truck come from recycled materials. Also, up to 90% of the truck can be recycled at the end of its life. Fossil-free steel will be an important complement to the traditional as well as recycled steel used in Volvo’s trucks.
Volvo Trucks is committed to the Paris agreement on climate change and to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the entire value-chain by 2040, at the latest.
Find out more, visit www.volvotrucks.us
