For the commercial vehicle industry there are many parameters to consider, such as access to green energy and infrastructure for charging, as well as local public policies. From a customer standpoint, the total cost of ownership is very important for their business. We believe in bringing technology to the market that matches the capabilities and the needs of the customers. For the most intensive use cases, we know that hydrogen fuel cells can play a role in complementing battery electric solutions.
How do you see the transition to cleaner, more affordable, and equitable mobility playing out in different vehicle segments and in different regions of the world?
In this regard, it is of course interesting to reflect on the main regions, and Asia, Europe and the US are three diverse markets where the transition is taking different shape at different speeds. At Volvo, we have three truck brands in our portfolio, Volvo Trucks, Renault Trucks, and Mack Trucks, and we aim to have the technologies for sustainable transportation available for all three brands.
For battery electric trucks, we are in a leadership position with more than 5,000 trucks out in the market already, mostly in Europe but also with a significant number of electric trucks in North America, so it is obvious that battery electric technology is already meeting the customers’ needs at a reasonable affordable level. Of course, more progress is needed, and infrastructure is clearly one key prerequisite for scaling adoption of battery electric vehicles. In Europe alone, we estimate that we would need 40,000 fast chargers for commercial vehicles by 2030. So far, we have less than a thousand.
Electrification has been a major disruptor for the automotive industry, but the adoption of pure BEVs has been slower than anticipated. How do you expect the matrix of propulsion technologies to evolve in the quest for cleaner mobility?
We see that truck fleets usually take a decade to be renewed, which is why we aim to offer only fossil-free solutions from Volvo Group by 2040, ten years ahead of the 2050 goal. But we must be a bit humble in front of the market and allow the customer to decide and choose what works for them and their needs.