DHL Freight, Volvo Trucks Partner to Create Green Transport Solutions

DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks have partnered to speed up the introduction of heavy duty electric trucks to be used for regional transport in Europe.

The combined effort marks another important step towards climate neutral transport solutions. So far, the main use of electric trucks has been for shorter distances within cities and urban areas.

Now DHL Freight and Volvo Trucks have initiated a project focusing on longer distance heavy transports. The cooperation includes exclusive, worldwide first pilot tests of a fully electric Volvo FH truck with gross combination weights up to 60 tonnes.

Starting in March, the truck will operate between two DHL Freight logistics terminals in Sweden, a distance of approximately 150 km one way.

During the trial, Volvo and DHL will gain important experience and information regarding the setup and operation of an adequate charging infrastructure.

The collected insights will help to optimize the right balance between operated distance, load weight and charging points in daily road freight operations.

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DHL is actively working, along with Volvo Trucks, on the reduction of their ecological footprint, with sustainability being an integral part of the company’s strategy.

Uwe Brinks, CEO at DHL Freight said: “Our aim is to reduce all logistics-related emissions to zero. Important milestones have already been achieved in meeting this: compared to 2007, our Group’s CO2 efficiency has improved by 35%."

Roger Alm, President at Volvo Trucks said: “The transport business is changing rapidly and to be sustainable is an increasingly important business advantage for many of our customers.

"We offer effective transport solutions that help make a fast transition to fossil-free fuels such as electricity.

"We have a longstanding relationship with DHL. Their broad and global expertise in logistics allows us to study the conditions to progress with this technology shift, adapting to customer needs and their type of transport operation."

Already today, the Volvo FL Electric and Volvo FE Electric trucks for city distribution are in serial production.

DHL Supply Chain recently put a new Volvo FL Electric into operation in London, thereby introducing the first purpose-built fully electric Volvo truck for city distribution in the UK.

“Our commitment is that our entire truck sales range will be fossil-free by 2040 at the latest,” concludes Roger Alm.

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