Next steps toward BATTERY-ELECTRIC CLASS 8 TRUCKS

Employing a common architecture and shared technologies allows Volvo Trucks to speed up electric-truck conversion, but battery technology and infrastructure still prove challenging.

Volvo LIGHTS, Volvo Group's pilot project in California to introduce battery-electric semi tractors to the U.S., is moving both incredibly fast and frustratingly slow. On the speedy side of things, we have the first five trucks that two of Volvo's partners, NFI Transportation and Dependable Supply Chain Services, have been using since Volvo held an introductory showcase for LIGHTS in February.

These trucks were put together in less than nine months by taking North America-spec VNR tractors and converting them to battery power using powertrain elements from electric trucks that are already on the roads in Europe. Volvo signed the contract to make them in March 2019 and delivered the five trucks to California in December. On the flip side, LIGHTS is moving slow because the process of shifting even just a few Class-8 trucks to electric drive takes a lot of work.