Drive a truck for a living? In the next few years, chances are it will be electric, and it might even be a Volvo.
Volvo has plans to roll out electric trucks to Europe next year, with the United States to follow.
To be sure, these are industrial trucks, meant for professional deliveries. And there certainly is some advantage to bringing electric vehicles to the trucking industry, aside from the obvious environmental friendly benefits.
Quiet as a Mouse
Electric vehicles are extremely quiet. That means they can operate at night in extremely populated areas without annoying the neighborhood. And that is great news. Trust us. Our Volvo mechanics certainly need their beauty sleep.
Volvo’s first electric car model will be a “cab-over ‘urban distribution’ truck using Volvo’s second-generation medium-duty FE chassis,” Trucks.com reports.
The decision follows a recent Swedish study that found quieter vehicles doing night-time delivery were able to complete delivery in a third of the normal time due to the lack of traffic.
“Volvo believes use of electric trucks in the U.S. and Canada is a logical follow-up to the introduction in Europe, Brandon Borgna, a spokesman for Volvo Trucks North America,” Trucks.com reports.
“Our technology and knowhow within electromobility are based on proven commercial solutions already in use on Volvo’s electric buses, and solutions that were introduced in Volvo’s hybrid trucks as far back as 2010,” stated Jonas Odermalm, Head of product strategy medium duty vehicles at Volvo Trucks. “The vehicles themselves are only one part of what is needed for large-scale electrification to succeed.”
Perhaps we should start running our auto repair garage at night? It certainly would be easier for our mechanics to get to work, but then again they might end up falling asleep in the middle of a 3 a.m. brake flush. On second thought, maybe we’ll stick to regular business hours and brave the Cincinnati traffic with the best of them.
