Volvo Wins Biggest Electric-Truck Order as DFDS Goes Green

(Bloomberg) --

Volvo Group won an order for 100 electric heavy trucks from DFDS A/S, Northern Europe’s largest shipping and logistics company, as pollution and noise restrictions overhaul the transport sector. 

The second-biggest truckmaker will start deliveries of the vehicles, capable of driving 300 kilometers (186 miles) on a single charge, during the fourth quarter of next year, Volvo said Wednesday. The deal is the largest commercial order of electric trucks for the company so far. 

The order shows “it’s possible to drive heavy transports with electric vehicles,” Roger Alm, president of Volvo’s trucking unit, said in an interview. “We are market leaders in the electric segment. That’s a position we strive to maintain.”

Manufacturers and logistics companies need to comply with tighter rules on diesel trucks operating in urban areas as well as cutting carbon dioxide emissions. The changes are opening the door for new competitors to the likes of Volvo and Traton SE, who have pledged that 50% of truck sales will be fossil-free by 2030. Volvo’s target is to have more than 35% of trucks fully electrified by 2030.

U.S. startup Nikola Corp. last month said it had won an order from the port of Hamburg, while Tesla Inc. has also been working on an big electric rig.  

“It’s obviously a costlier alternative, but we want to be first movers in this,” DFDS’s head of logistics Niklas Andersson said, whose company runs a fleet of 1,500 trucks. “It’s a very big part of our climate plan.”

Sales of larger e-trucks have so far remained in the low hundreds due to limited driving ranges and high battery costs. Volvo sold about 95,000 heavy-duty trucks in the first half of the year.

The order “confirms Volvo has a competitive offer and is well-situated in the transition to electric the transportation sector is currently undergoing,” Mats Liss, and analyst at Kepler, said in a note.

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