Volvo’s heavy-duty electric truck runs 12 hours a day with one charge break, can haul 74 tons

Leading truck manufacturer Volvo Trucks is pioneering a path for the heavy transport hauling industry to go all-electric. The company delivered an electric truck for heavy transport in Sweden that can handle a total weight of 74 tons. Impressively – Volvo’s heavy-duty electric truck runs 12 hours a day, with one charging stop along the way.

If you pass by a heavy- or medium-duty truck on the highway, there’s a good chance it’s built by Volvo Trucks.

The company has been blazing new paths for the trucking industry since its foundation in 1927. With innovations like the three-point safety harness, unique designs to optimize efficiency, and the first fully integrated sleeper compartment, Volvo Trucks continues to make the industry safer and more sustainable for all.

Since Volvo introduced its first fully electric commercial truck in 2019, the FL Electric, the company has continued evolving by introducing models in new categories with more power and longer ranges.

Volvo Trucks has the broadest portfolio, with six EV truck models in series production. With its early vision paying off, Volvo landed its largest order last month from Hocim to supply 1,000 EV trucks by the end of the decade.

Volvo delivers an electric truck that hauls for 12 hours a day

This week, Volvo achieved another milestone by providing three heavy electric Volvo FH trucks to Mattson Åkeri in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Volvo has been testing one of the trucks, a Volvo FH Electric 6X4, for the past few weeks in container traffic in what’s called a High-Capacity Transports (HCT) test. HTC allows for a larger load to be transported per vehicle.

The electric truck can handle 74 tons of weight with two 32-meter-long trailers. Lena Larsson, project manager of the HCT project at Volvo’s tech unit, explains:

We want to show that all-electric solutions also work in applications with high total weights and a high utilization rate. Together with Mattson Åkeri, the Swedish Transport Administration and several other partners, we are now looking at how we can optimize the operation of the electric truck, including how charging should take place in the most efficient way.

The electric truck is charged with green electricity from two fast 180 kW chargers installed in the company’s depot in Arendal. Looking ahead, the truck will also run from Gothenburg to the city of Borås, a 43-mile (70 km) commute.

Europe has several ongoing or scheduled HTC projects with the idea that it will help lower transport costs while reducing the environmental impact. In Finland, for example, trucks are allowed to drive with 76 tons of total weight.

Mattson Åkeri has enjoyed the electric trucks so far, as CEO Jan-Olof Mattsson explained:

Driving long and heavy loads using electricity works very well so far, and we can carry as much cargo as a diesel truck.

He added:

The truck runs 12 hours a day, with a stop for charging when the driver takes a break. We charge with green electricity and thus get no CO2 emissions. Silent, electric operation also means a better working environment for the driver.

Since introducing its first in 2019, Volvo has sold nearly 5,000 electric trucks in 40 countries. The company aims to continue pushing the industry forward as it targets 50% of total truck sales to be electric by 2030.