Volvo has been a brand synonymous with quality, safety and environmental care, with its products and solutions known for best Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) across the segments it operates in. While delivering the TCO for its customers, what Volvo does is also provide the most sustainable transport and developmental solutions in the market, leaving behind the least possible impact on the environment, consuming the lowest amount of fuel, etc.
We spoke to Mr. Kamal Bali, Managing Director, Volvo India Private limited, to find out more about Volvo’s uncompromising focus on sustainability and how it has managed to keep up its promise in the Indian context.
Excerpts:
Motorindia (MI): How has Volvo’s engagement with energy conservation been? Could you share insights from the various segments Volvo operates in?
Kamal Bali (KB): At Volvo we view sustainability with a holistic perspective. This implies action across various fronts, our operations, product life-cycle, the people involved, transport technology, transport concept & course collaboration with the various stakeholders in the process. At the outset, we are part of Volvo Group’s global commitment, under the WWF Climate Saver program to reduce 40 million tons of carbon dioxide reduction by 2020 compared to 2013. Under this program Volvo Group reduced 50M tonnes in the total lifetime of CO2 emissions from the products sold between 2009 and 2014.
Transport Concept: The transport concept has a major bearing on the emissions & fuel consumption. For instance, in India, Volvo Trucks in the mining segment brought in unheard utilisation levels of around 19 hours a day, thereby drastically improving the transport economy and also reducing fuel consumption up to 50 percent compared to typical vehicles used at that time. This is the same concept that applies in our buses and construction equipment, the ability to do more with less. A good transport concept can have the same impact or more as compared to improved technology or emission levels.
Volvo has a strong focus in promoting the public transport agenda in our cities thereby reducing the congestion on road, fuel consumption and overall emissions. This is the purpose with which Volvo city buses are deployed across 35 cities in India and we do say that a large number of passengers in these buses would have taken a personal vehicle if not for an Volvo Bus.
Education & Training: Following the transport concept approach, comes the influence drivers and operators can have on fuel consumption and overall life-cycle emissions of a vehicle. We know from our regular engagement, the best drivers can achieve up to 30% better fuel efficiency compared to the average drivers and that is a lot! As a result we have a no. of training programs and competitions to motivate good drivers to do even better.
Volvo Driver Training Program: We have trained over 86,000 truck & bus drivers till date.
Volvo Operator Training program: 13,000 operators have been trained till date.
Volvo Fuel Watch Program: Asia’s largest competition for drivers on better fuel efficiency. Here we had an Indian driver winning the APAC level competition last year.
However, even before the vehicles ply on the road, the road itself has a large bearing on the way vehicles perform in terms of fuel and emissions and human lives. Volvo’s RASTA Center for road technology and Visveswaraya Technological University together offer industry-relevant training in road technology.
Technology: There is vast technology, like the I-shift gearbox, which helps in improving fuel efficiency of vehicles besides reducing the relative emissions. The gearbox is an automated one and mimics the best driver in gear changes thus saving precious fuel. Today a majority of Volvo Trucks & Buses are bought with this option by customers.
However, what may be interesting in the city context is the initiative taken by Volvo in setting the path to electro mobility. When it comes to city buses, electro mobility is the chosen path by Volvo Group and this is where we are now the world leaders with 7000 buses operating across the world.
The electro-mobility program includes hybrid, plug-in electric hybrid and full electric buses for city commute. With the aim to strengthen the electro-mobility programme in India, Volvo Buses introduced the Volvo Hybrid City Bus in Navi Mumbai, becoming the first bus manufacturer to commercially deploy the hybrid technology in India. With this technology we will be able to reduce up to 50 percent hazardous emissions and save 30-35 percent fuel.
Collaboration: The Volvo Group has instituted the Volvo Sustainability Awards which is now running in its 7th year. As part of this award we have been engaged with a many organisations doing great work in the area of sustainability including the ones like Embarq, Mapunity, Janagrahaa, Praja Citizen Group, ArriveSafe, Citizens of Sustainability, all winners of the awards over the years. Annual Seminars that Volvo conducts brings together authorities, citizen groups, industry, subject matter experts and media on one table to discuss and relate issues faced by the cities of India today.
MI: What are the challenges faced in promoting sustainable mobility?
KB: To promote sustainable mobility and make it an integral part of our lives we need to bring together all stakeholders in the eco-system with a shared vision and of course this often requires leadership, because sustainable mobility solutions will often seek a change in our way of working, behaviour and practices.
It is important to create greater awareness among citizens and capability building among the urban Institutions. The more we do this the greater the chances for us to tackle the challenges in this area jointly and build a common shared vision, which motivates us in a common direction.
MI: How has Volvo helped in reducing the pollution levels of Bangalore city? Explain.
KB: All our vehicles are smart, intelligent and with the capacity to offer higher productivity, doing more with less. Lesser fuel, space, fewer vehicles for the same job, reduced emissions, all due to the technology, application and the transport concept we employ.
When it comes to cities, we have been promoting public transport agenda since 2006 motivating citizens to leave their personal vehicles and choose public transport. We are now present across 35 cities of which Bangalore is our home city with a fleet of 700 buses. When we came in 2006 with our low-floor city bus, we were rather among few who spoke on these lines, but today it’s heartening to see more and more voices supporting public transport as a key tool in a city to tackle environment and congestion challenges. In Bangalore, in quite a few routes [city or airport link] the majority of the passengers would choose their personal vehicles if not for a Volvo Bus. In this scenario, each bus can save around 66% in space utilisation, 40% fuel and the vehicles on road by 80% – as against the passengers choosing to use their personal vehicles.
In partnership with WWF, we recently participated in the “One Planet Cities Pedalathon”, an event highlighting the need for sustainable transport solutions where citizens were encouraged to use public mode of transportation so as to help reduce pollution levels in the city. As mentioned before we are actively engaged with many organisations engaged in the area of sustainability.
MI: How do you promote sustainability through your manufacturing facilities in Bangalore?
KB: Sustainability is a core value of the Group. We strive to reduce our carbon footprint across our manufacturing facilities. All our factories in Bangalore are ISO14001 (Environmental Management System) compliant and of course we meet all these requirements including continuous improvement targets. The Hosakote and Peenya manufacturing facilities have been awarded the “4 star rating” by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Southern Region which is a testament to Volvo’s commitment towards protecting the environment and the development of the society within which we operate.
Furthermore, our factories use advanced technology like closed loop systems in our paint shops with reduced VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) emissions. Volvo has a black list of material which cannot be used in its factories or by its suppliers. This includes material such as asbestos, refrigerant in can and non-CFC building. The power back up in our factory is supplied with Volvo Penta engines which exceed the local environment norms.