With more and more battery-powered truck models appearing all the time, heavy duty EVs are on a charge.
Now, three leading commercial vehicle manufacturers have announced plans for a charging network for the vehicles.
Volvo Group, Daimler Truck and the Traton Group have signed a non-binding agreement.
As a result, they will install and operate a public charging network for European heavy duty long haul trucks.
Therefore, the infrastructure plans will help ‘support EU’s transformation to climate-neutral transportation’.
Specifically, the joint venture will see all three parties own an equal third of the business.
Each manufacturer will invest €500 million and install and operate 1,700 high-performance charging points.
In addition, the number of chargers is expected to increase after that point, as well as the investors.
Work on the project is set to start in 2022 and is expected to be completed within five years.
Martin Lundstedt, president and CEO of Volvo Group, praised his fellow investors.
“We are laying the necessary foundation in making a break-through for our customers.”
He added that he wanted to “make the transformation to electrification by creating a European charging network leader”.
Meanwhile, Martin Daum, CEO of Daimler Truck, confirmed that climate neutrality by 2050 was a combined effort between OEMs.
“However, it is vital that building up the right infrastructure goes hand in hand with putting CO2-neutral trucks on the road,” he added.
Finally, Matthias Gründler, Traton’s CEO, confirmed that the future of the group was electric.
“This requires the rapid development of publicly accessible charging points, especially for long-distance heavy-duty transport.
“We now make the first step to accelerate the transition towards sustainable, fossil free transport.”
Concluding, Gründler said: “The second step should be a strong engagement of the EU for the full scale-up of a charging network across Europe.”
