DUBLIN, Va. —Freightliner has led its U.S. diesel large rig rivals for years, commanding a market share no competitor may catch. But the nascent transformation to electrical trucking offers different gamers a gap, and Volvo has jumped forward.
Sales of electrical vans are nonetheless virtually immeasurable in comparison with the roughly 150,000 heavy-duty diesel vans producers are on observe to promote within the U.S. this yr.
Yet Volvo holds an early lead within the U.S., in keeping with registration knowledge collected by S&P Global Mobility. Fleets have bought 51 Volvo VNR Electric regional haul vans via July. Peterbilt is at 10. Volvo’s sibling firm, Mack, is at seven, and Navistar’s International Truck is at six. The knowledge does not embrace 40 prototype battery electrical Freightliner eCascadias and eM2s from Daimler Trucks North America in varied check applications.
Volvo’s lead is slight — now as much as about 60 registrations, the corporate mentioned — however illustrates its technique to make use of electrical trucking to shut on Freightliner, mentioned Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America.
Freightliner has about 40 p.c of the diesel heavy-duty truck market in comparison with Volvo’s 11 p.c.
Volvo’s early benefit comes from getting prototypes into real-world operations sooner than others, getting a bounce on enhancements and launching manufacturing at its New River Valley Factory right here, Voorhoeve mentioned.
That’s allowed the corporate to generate what are comparatively large orders for electrical vans, together with many from companies that participated in early pilot applications, Voorhoeve mentioned. “It is really accelerating,” he mentioned.
Performance Team, a division of Danish transport big Maersk, purchased 16 Volvo VNR Electrics a yr in the past for its Southern California fleet operations serving port drayage and warehouse distribution routes. It got here again with an order for an additional 110 earlier this yr. Performance expects all of the vans to be in operation early subsequent yr.
Source: www.autonews.com