After announcing their alliance during the summer, Volvo Group, Daimler Truck and Traton (Scania, Man, Volkswagen Truck), decide to put 500 million euros on the table for electrify the European network road transport.
500 million euros to electrify road transport
The electric transition will not only happen in the context of urban mobility with cars, bicycles and motorcycles. Volvo Group, Daimler Truck and Traton will prove it by developing a network of charging stations for electric trucks at European level. These three giants of the automotive sector no longer hide their ambitions. They join forces to electrify the European road transport network. They are giving themselves five years to act with an investment of 500 million euros.
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Buses and trucks should not be forgotten in the vehicle electrification strategy. They are big polluters and it is precisely for this reason that Volvo Group, Daimler Truck and Traton have decided to tackle the problem of the electric transition of road transport. The first electric trucks are starting to circulate. Volvo Trucks, for example, has started testing its own in Sweden, in collaboration with DHL Freight. However, they will not be able to be useful without an efficient network of charging stations at European level.
Together, the three companies plan to build 1,700 charging stations on highways and strategic secondary axes. The only limits that are imposed Volvo, Daimler and Traton are those of the European continent.
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From France to Finland, via Denmark and Italy, all electric trucks circulating on European territory will be able to benefit from it. With this very large-scale project, the three builders want start the new strategy of the European Union : the Green Pact. The objective of which is to make the transport of goods carbon neutral by 2050.
According to Matthias Gruendler, CEO of Traton, this investment will not be enough. He estimates that “Europe will need ten billion euros in order to build the necessary infrastructures”. For the three manufacturers, the electrification of the road transport network is a necessity to boost sales of electric trucks. Without a reliable and fully efficient network, carriers will have no incentive to go electric.
This summer, Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Truck, estimated that “The common goal of European electric truck manufacturers is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. To achieve this, it is vital that the construction of the right infrastructure goes hand in hand with the introduction of neutral trucks into service. CO2 “.