DUBLIN, Va. —Freightliner has led its U.S. diesel giant rig competitors for years, commanding a marketplace percentage no competitor may catch. However the nascent transformation to electrical trucking supplies different gamers a gap, and Volvo has jumped forward.
Gross sales of electrical vehicles are nonetheless virtually immeasurable in comparison to the kind of 150,000 heavy-duty diesel vehicles producers are on the right track to promote within the U.S. this 12 months.
But Volvo holds an early lead within the U.S., consistent with registration knowledge accumulated via S&P World Mobility. Fleets have bought 51 Volvo VNR Electrical regional haul vehicles via July. Peterbilt is at 10. Volvo’s sibling corporate, Mack, is at seven, and Navistar’s World Truck is at six. The knowledge does not come with 40 prototype battery electrical Freightliner eCascadias and eM2s from Daimler Vans North The us in quite a lot of take a look at techniques.
Volvo’s lead is slight — now as much as about 60 registrations, the corporate stated — however illustrates its technique to make use of electrical trucking to near on Freightliner, stated Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Vans North The us.
Freightliner has about 40 % of the diesel heavy-duty truck marketplace in comparison to Volvo’s 11 %.
Volvo’s early merit comes from getting prototypes into real-world operations previous than others, getting a leap on enhancements and launching manufacturing at its New River Valley Manufacturing facility right here, Voorhoeve stated.
That is allowed the corporate to generate what are relatively giant orders for electrical vehicles, together with many from companies that participated in early pilot techniques, Voorhoeve stated. “It’s actually accelerating,” he stated.
Efficiency Workforce, a department of Danish delivery massive Maersk, purchased 16 Volvo VNR Electrics a 12 months in the past for its Southern California fleet operations serving port drayage and warehouse distribution routes. It got here again with an order for any other 110 previous this 12 months. Efficiency expects the entire vehicles to be in operation early subsequent 12 months.
