Unilever added a Volvo heavy-duty electric truck that will be used for the company’s transportation needs in the Netherlands. The choice of using a Volvo heavy-duty electric truck is due to having sufficient coverage for regional transportation from distribution centers.
The Volvo heavy-duty electric truck uses a 540 kWh battery and has a range of up to 300 km on a single charge. Unilever has not specified the exact model used. Volvo Trucks’ electric truck portfolio is FH Electric, FM Electric and FMX Electric with over 1,000 orders.
This is the first time Unilever has chosen a Volvo electric vehicle. Unilever is part of the EV100 initiative, which brings together companies committed to shifting to electric vehicles by 2030. They recently co-founded the EV100+ with Ikea, JSW Steel, Maersk and DPD. All pledged to transition their medium and heavy duty (over 7.5 tons) fleet to zero-emission vehicles by 2040.
All heavy-duty Volvo trucks have three electric motors coupled to the Volvo Trucks I-Shift transmission. The manufacturer puts the combined electric motor output at 490 kW and the transmission torque up to 28,000 Nm. Power take-off is available in electric (40 kW), electromechanical (70 kW) and transmission (150 kW) versions. The six-unit lithium-ion battery pack in the e-truck is equipped with the energy content of 540 kWh.
Unilever estimates the new e-truck will reduce up to 100 tonnes of carbon per year compared to regular diesel trucks when charged with green energy. The company added that they are investing in setting up a high-charging infrastructure at their Tiel distribution center in the Netherlands. “Adding a charging facility on an existing site is a challenge, affected by warehouse design and network capacity, but we are working on it and learning a lot from this project,” said Unilever. “Any new warehouse we open in the future will need to include electric vehicle charging as standard.”
Volvo Group plans to build battery plant in Sweden to support electric truck production
