Volvo Delivering Battery-Electric Trucks to Amazon

Retail giant Amazon will take delivery of 20 battery-electric Volvo trucks for its delivery services in Germany by year-end.

The Volvo FH Electric trucks are expected to drive more than 620,000 miles (1 million km) every year with zero tailpipe emissions. At present, heavy-goods vehicles and other commercial vehicles make up about 36% of Germany’s domestic transport emissions.

Volvo Trucks started series production of heavy-duty electric trucks in September. The availability of electric trucks for inter-city and regional haulage marks an important milestone for decarbonizing road transport.

The electric versions of Volvo Trucks’ most important product range – the heavy-duty Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX trucks – will play a major role in reaching the company’s 2030 global target of 50% of all new trucks sold be battery- or fuel-cell-electric. These electric heavy-duty trucks can operate at a total weight of 44 tons and the three models represent around two-thirds of the company’s sales.

The FH trucks that Amazon will use have a battery capacity of 540 kWh and a power output of 657 hp (490 kW) continuous power. Volvo says it has a range of up to 186 miles (300 km) but that it can achieve up to 310 miles (500 km) during a normal workday if a top-up charge is added, for example during the lunch break.

Jessica Sandström, senior vice president-product management at Volvo Trucks, says: “Big actors in the transport business play a key role in leading the industry’s efforts to lower its carbon footprint. Therefore, I´m glad that Amazon is working with us to help reduce their emissions in longer and heavier transport assignments.”

For Amazon, the trucks will replace their diesel counterparts and play a key role in electrification initiatives through its transportation chain.

Andreas Marschner, vice president-transportation services Europe at Amazon, adds: “Amazon is committed to decarbonizing its fleet, and the middle mile has been a notoriously hard-to-abate sector. That’s why welcoming these electric heavy-goods vehicles from Volvo into our fleet is such a critical milestone. We’re operating one of the fastest-growing commercial transportation electrification programs, and we’ll continue to invest and innovate to decarbonize and deliver packages to customers with zero emissions.”