Today, Volvo delivered three of the world’s first heavy-duty line haul electric trucks to Danfoss. The e-trucks will operate in fixed routes between Danfoss sites in Denmark, and one of the trucks will operate 24 hours a day, five days per week, without significant charging downtime.
The delivery of the three e-trucks is part of a larger partnership between Volvo Trucks and Danfoss, focusing on pioneering sustainable electric transport operations. Nine fully electric Volvo trucks are set to be in operation before 2024. With this transformation, Danfoss will be the first company in Denmark to have a 24-hour truck in operation. When fully implemented, the e-trucks will reduce Danfoss’ scope 1 and 2 emissions in Denmark by 10-15% with the added benefit of next to zero noise and air pollution, thereby ensuring a drastically improved working climate for drivers.
Danfoss’ Indian subsidiary recently, on the sidelines of the G20 Meet and Clean Energy Ministerial events in Goa, India announced to collaborate under a national task force that will stimulate the development of the e-freight market in India under the Zero Emission Vehicles Emerging Markets Initiative (ZEV-EMI) initiative and the Indian Government’s Electric Freight Accelerator for Sustainable Transport (E-FAST) platform– led by NITI Aayog and supported by World Resources Institute (WRI) India. Currently for the Danfoss’ India operations, its less-container loads are moved through alternate fuel freight and has e-vehicles for in-campus goods and select route freight& employee commutation.
Ravichandran Purushothaman, President, Danfoss India Region said, “Introduction of Electric Trucks at our HQ in Denmark is a huge step forward, for achieving clean transport goals. Similarly, Danfoss India operations is gradually taking concrete actions by embracing alternate fuel options for road freight. This is in line with Danfoss climate commitment to offset emissions from upstream& downstream supply chain by 2030 and our commitment to E-FAST INDIA initiative by NITI Aayog, WRI & WBCSD for accelerating ZET (Zero Emissions Transport) adoption in India essential to meet our nation’s NDC commitments.”
Torben Christensen, Chief Sustainability Officer and Head of Global Services, Danfoss, says: “The shift to electric vehicles is part of Danfoss’ commitment to become carbon neutral in scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030. With these new Volvo e-trucks, we add extra speed to the decarbonization of Danfoss’ operations. By transitioning our own fleet of transport vehicles to be fully electric, we want to demonstrate to our customers and other companies around the world that it’s challenging but not impossible to switch to electric transport vehicles and essential if you want to decarbonize your business.”
Danfoss joined the Climate Group’s EV100 initiative in 2019 and is committed to transitioning the entire company car fleet to electric vehicles by 2030 at the latest. The transition from diesel-powered vehicles to fully electric vehicles is an important step to becoming carbon neutral in scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030.
Joakim Nilsson, Business Development Manager – Zero Emission, Volvo, says: “This is a true testament that collaboration across the sectors is necessary but also opens for fantastic opportunities. Danfoss is a supplier of critical components in the electrical trucks and it’s fantastic to see they are walking the talk and transforming their whole fleet to electric. We are so proud to have Danfoss as our partner and that we together take these so crucial steps towards zero emissions and show the world what can be done if you set your mind to it.”
According to the International Energy Agency, heavy trucks accounted for 1,776 Mt CO2 in 2020[1]. Volvo Trucks has set a global target that in 2030, 50% of all new trucks sold will be battery or fuel cell electric. The transition to electric is being led by Europe, where Volvo has an ambition for around 70% of all new trucks sold in Europe in 2030 to be electric.
Advanced charging technology
The new 24-hour e-trucks will operate on a route between the Danfoss sites in Denmark. Customized super chargers will be utilized to rapidly charge the truck’s battery during offloading and onloading at each stop – usually around 15 minutes. The trucks are charged by charging infrastructure from the Danish company GodEnergi.
The advanced charging technology and the relative shortness of the route allows the electric truck to be continuously in service for 24 hours a day, up to five days per week, with a longer overnight charge only needed during weekends when there is no business need for the truck to be operational. Since Danfoss has signed Power Purchase Agreements for its sites in Denmark, a substantial part of the power will be sustainable.
Danfoss technology in the trucks
The partnership between Volvo Trucks and Danfoss is the culmination of a wider strategic collaboration between Volvo Trucks and Danfoss to pioneer electric sustainable transport operations.
Danfoss Editron is supplying the On-Board Charger and Electric Power Supply (OCEPS) to all Volvo electric trucks, which enables fast overnight AC charging and is a key enabler to electrifying on-highway trucks and buses as well as off-highway vehicles. The OCEPS’ dual functionality provides 43 kW of power to charge a truck overnight (8-9hrs) while using readily available AC power outlets. This enables the quick deployment of EV trucks while minimizing the charging infrastructure costs for the end-users.
While DC charging is more rapid and usually the preferred option, the ability to rapidly charge with AC power (that is to plug directly into the utility grid for charging) is crucial to providing flexibility for heavy duty electric vehicles. Rapid AC charging is necessary to eliminate range anxiety for commercial vehicles doing deliveries on variable routes or vehicles at construction sites where it is not possible to access DC charging.
This unique product also acts as a 43kW electric Power Take-Off (ePTO) to power work functions on off-highway vehicles such as excavators and wheel loaders.
Semikron Danfoss, the newly merged SEMIKRON and Danfoss Silicon Power, is delivering SKAI2HV traction inverters designed for bus, construction, marine and truck applications to Volvo Trucks.