Volvo FL Electric
E-mobility is since a while not just a domain of electric cars. Manufacturers of buses and trucks also develop the electric variants of their vehicles and bring them to the market. Volvo Trucks [1, 2], the world second largest manufacturer of heavy-duty trucks, brought its FL Electric to the market and already received lot of positive feedback. Electric trucks are becoming reality!
Basic information about Volvo Trucks
Volvo Trucks is based in Gothenburg, Sweden with factories worldwide. The parent company is AB Volvo. Volvo trucks are exported to more than 75 countries. Volvo Trucks is globally the second largest truck manufacturer. The trucks are known for their robustness, extreme endurance, fuel efficiency, high ergonomics and highest level of safety. In short: Swedish quality. Cabins are very comfortable and popular among truck drivers (famous “Globetrotter”). Truck owners and drivers claim that Volvo Truck require less maintenance compared to other brands and generally tend to be more reliable. Finally the trucks are tested in harsh Scandinavian conditions.
The Volvo Museum [3] is also located in Gothenburg, displaying the history of Volvo since its start in 1927. The museum covers the whole product range of Volvo such as cars, trucks, buses, construction equipment and engines.
Admiration of Volvo
As a little boy I have always admired the FH series of Volvo Trucks. I would even buy a film tape (later replaced by first digital camera), stand close to traffic lights in the city centre and shoot pictures of these beautiful trucks. As I grew up my focus shifted more on “electric vehicles” such as locomotives and trams. Electrical engineering became my job and my passion. However, I would always spend a moment watching a nice Volvo truck on the road. The more excited I am seeing Volvo Trucks moving into electric driven vehicles.
Volvo Trucks have always been aiming at best possible fuel efficiency of their trucks. This is mainly to reduce the fuel consumption and cost. However, it also reduces the environmental impact. Since 2012/2013 all Volvo diesel engines comply with EU Euro 6 environmental requirements.
However, Volvo is making further steps towards low emissions. With head office in Sweden, known i very environmental friendly country, lot of focus is given to sustainability. The direction is towards electromobility.
Volvo revealed first technical details about its “FL Electric” series during 2018 and the product launch took place in 2019. We shall note that the sister company Volvo Bus is already offering electric buses since 2010. Over 4’000 electric buses had been sold so far. Naturally, lot of development and operational experience flows into Volvo FL Electric. In this sense a proven technology is used minimizing any kind of risks or technical issues.
>> See also our short article on Volvo FH Electric
Advantages of electric trucks
The main advantages of electric trucks are straight forward:
– Reduced emissions
Electric drive does not produce any emissions locally and is overall considered much cleaner compared to conventional diesel engine. Some people might argue that electric power generation is linked with emissions as well. Yes, this is true, but the steady improvement of efficiency of power plants (higher efficiency of key components, such as turbines, and reduced own consumption), better filtration system and obvious growth of renewable sources shifts the emissions more and more in favor of electric vehicles.
– Low noise
Noise impacts the quality of life. Increased noise level may cause stress and otherwise affect health. Electric trucks significantly reduce noise compared to conventional diesel engines. In larger cities noise level might be an issue. Some people tend to move to the outskirts and one reason is to escape from the noisy center. Electric trucks contribute to more quiet city centers and more attractive residential areas in the centers.
– Better traffic flow
Besides these well-known advantages Volvo Trucks lists another interesting advantage: Better traffic flow [4]. It is linked with the low noise aspect above. Quieter trucks can perform their assignments also outside of peaks hours, such as early mornings, late evenings or even at night. The traffic can be better spread throughout the day resulting in reduced burden on the roads during peak hours.
– Better driving experience
Electric truck is more quiet. Not only when it comes to noise emission. The vibration level is generally lower as well. It makes the driver’s job more comfortable.
– Extended operation
Electric trucks can also operate in places where conventional trucks can’t. For example indoor terminals or city areas with zero emissions regulation.
Volvo FL Electric: Technical data
Let’s look at some key technical parameters of the new Volvo FL Electric:
Electric motor with permanent magnets
Electric motor has continuous power of 130 kW with peak power of 185 kW. Similar as in traction, permanent magnet motors are being used. Their advantage is low volume, resp. high power density. Peak torque is 425 Nm.
Batteries for energy storage
The energy is stored in state of the art Lithium-Ion batteries (Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide, to be exact). Each battery block has a capacity of 50 kWh. The electric truck is configurable with two to six battery blocks providing total capacity of 100 kWh to 300 kWh. It allows driving range of up to 300 km. Estimated battery lifetime is 8-10 years. The total (loaded) weight of the truck is 16.7 tonnes.
Charging options
Both AC and DC charging is possible. For charging a standard 22 kW charger can be used. With largest battery capacity of 300 kWh the batteries are charged within 13 hours. Alternatively, a DC fast charger, such as [5] can be used. DC chargers with up to 150 kW charge the batteries to their full capacity within 1-2 hours.
2-speed gearbox
The 2-speed gearbox is designed and built by Volvo to be compact and light while making full use of the motor’s range. It enables seamless gear shifts and delivers maximum torque from start.
Regenerative braking
In electric trucks, regenerative braking uses the electric motor as a generator to convert much of the kinetic energy that is normally lost when braking. That energy goes back to the vehicle’s traction battery, where it is stored.
Low noise
There is a 10 dB difference between the drive-by noise of a diesel Volvo FL and an electric version. That’s perceived as half as loud. While idling, there is almost a 40 dB difference! In fact, the noise emitted by a Volvo FL Electric during idling is lower than surrounding street noise.
Check out these videos below to et your own impression:
Deliveries of Volvo FL Electric
Volvo Trucks delivered first units of FL Electric to waste disposal and recycling companies and logistics companies, mainly in Sweden. These were the first exemplars from the pre-serial production. The first series electric truck was delivered to Swiss transport company Galliker Transport AG as informed in our recent article [6]. The electric truck is using the charging infrastructure provided by ABB, a leader in field of conventional and especially fast charging technology.
Summary
Volvo FL Electric is a neat electric truck suitable for city and medium distance transport. It seems to be the best product on the market right now. The few other alternatives are much smaller (3.5 tonnes) with lower battery capacity and lower range. At this point of time we consider Volvo FL Electric as ‘best in class’. The advantages of electric trucks are very clear and a solid demand is expected. The solid know-how and experience of Volvo from electric buses provides a very promising outlook for FL Electric.
We look forward seeing more of Volvo FL Electric trucks on the roads.
References
[1] Volvo Trucks – Homepage, https://www.volvotrucks.com/splash.html
[2] Volvo Trucks Global, https://www.volvotrucks.com/en-en.html
[3] Volvo museum in Gothenburg, https://www.goteborg.com/en/volvo-museum/
[4] Volvo Trucks – Electromobility, https://www.volvotrucks.com/en-en/about-us/electromobility.html
[5] High-power charging from ABB, https://new.abb.com/ev-charging/products/car-charging/high-power-charging
[6] E-mobility: Part 1, https://mb-drive-services.com/e-mobility-part-1/
