Volvo Trucks South Africa has officially launched its electric truck range in South Africa. The company is offering its most popular extra heavy trucks in its electric line-up: the Volvo FH, the Volvo FM, and the Volvo FMX. They will be available in truck tractor or rigid configurations, from 4×2 to 8×4, giving it the industry’s most extensive portfolio of zero exhaust emission trucks.
“Volvo Trucks has been committed to social, environmental, and economic responsibility since the start of our company,” said Waldemar Christensen, managing director of Volvo Trucks South Africa. “Now, protecting the environment is the biggest challenge we face. The Volvo Group is a leading force in the shift towards the electrification of the transportation, mobility, and equipment sectors, making a real impact on our customers’ efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.”
In total, the Swedish truck manufacturer has sold almost 5,000 electric trucks since 2019 in about 40 countries.
First Movers
Christensen said the company was pleasantly surprised by the amount of local interest in its electric trucks, and that the first movers in South Africa are companies that value their environmental impact and already have programs to reduce emissions.
“The size of the company is largely irrelevant. Transporters can see that electric drivelines are going to play a bigger role in our near future, and many want to get early exposure on how the technology works in real operations, so they are positioned well for the shift,” commented Christensen. “There is also no single silver bullet transport solution that can address all the fleet owner’s requirements. Therefore, Volvo Trucks offers gas-fuelled trucks, electric trucks, and fuel cell trucks under its three-pronged approach. We believe electrification will happen segment by segment and region by region.”
Locally, the first electric FM 4X2 Tractor was presented to valued Volvo customer, KDG Logistics today. The company will use the truck in its operations to move new passenger vehicles between factories/storage facilities and the Durban Port.
“Our move to electric trucks was driven by our objective to be more efficient in every aspect of our business,” said Abdool Kamdar, KDG Logistics’ manager of Decarbonization and Net Zero. “We believe what sets us apart from our competitors is the fact that we focus on operational and environmental efficiencies in our business, which includes steps to lessen our impact on the environment and enhance safety for all road users.”
Kamdar explained that the company wanted to be one of the first movers on battery electric trucks to gain experience, knowledge and operational miles in the first generation of these units, to fully understand and take advantage of future efficiencies as the technology develops and expands. The KDG Group has a longstanding relationship with Volvo Trucks and has 175 diesel units in its fleet already.
“We have been a 100% Volvo Trucks fleet since 2015, and that is because we believe that the trucks are inherently designed to be the safest possible trucks on the road, but at the same time they are the most operationally efficient from a reliability and fuel consumption point of view,” explained Kamdar. “So, it comes down to understanding what the brand can deliver from past experiences and building on that for a more sustainable future, and to bring our customers more value mile after mile.”
Global technology, locally applicable
Eric Parry, Volvo Trucks SA’s sustainable solutions manager, said the trucks have been designed, developed and built to handle any major commercial operation that South African companies need to deal with.
“Our trucks are designed to handle high temperature ranges and a variety of operational conditions. With a driveline that has 490kW or power and 2400Nm of torque, it will not struggle on the hills,” explained Parry. “One of the main advantages of going electric is that it provides drivers with a silent and vibration-free ride while delivering smooth and massive power.”
“So, no adaptations were necessary before introducing the vehicles in SA. They have been homologated and continuously tested in real-life operations and we are happy to say that so far, all is going well,” said Parry.
Support
At Volvo Trucks’ major sites in South Africa, staff have been trained in the new technologies and tools and equipment acquired to support electric truck customers every step of the way.
“Having this in place was a pre-requisite before any one of the vehicles touched rubber on our shores, for the ultimate benefit of our customers,” stated Christensen.
Range and charging infrastructure.
The Volvo electric truck’ range is up to 300 km, enough for most city and regional applications. However, the trucks can cover up to 500 km during a normal workday if a top-up charge is added, for example during the lunch break.
Volvo’s electric trucks can be charged with an AC charger (for example a charging box) at up to 43 kW and with a DC system (stationary charging station) with a capacity of up to 250 kW. Using a 43kW AC charger, it takes around nine hours to fully charge the batteries. With a 250kW DC charger, the charging time is reduced to approximately two hours. The battery can be charged more quickly up to 80% capacity, in just the same way as a smartphone, because the charger slows down towards the end of the process to protect the battery cells.
The question on everybody’s minds in South Africa is a lack of a consistent supply of electricity and how operators can work around this challenge to efficiently operate electric trucks.
“In a way, we believe it is all down to planning,” said Parry. “Operators will have the necessary tools to plan their charging options according to their workload and routes, even though there is load shedding. In addition, most of the first movers already have some sort of off-grid power solution and in a lot of cases, they can be upgraded to supplement grid charging.”
Driving force of electromobility in South Africa
According to Christensen, South Africa is expected to be a low volume market at the start.
“We need to get the necessary support from the government to help customers transition to electromobility, both in a reduction in import duties and in terms of technical allowances for carrying more weight. Until that happens, we are not going to see mass adoption,” said Christensen. “Ultimately, we hope to assemble electric trucks locally at our Durban plant. This will be heavily influenced by the regulatory environment. If we can get the necessary support to help drive uptake, then we can have a market big enough to support the economies of scale to justify further investments to assemble locally.”