Volvo Trucks recently announced that it delivered the first fully electric and emission-free heavy concrete mixer truck to a customer in Germany. The customer is the large Mexican company CEMEX, which will put the trucks into operation at a ready-mix concrete plant in Spandau in Berlin during February.
Volvo Trucks has set a target of 2050 to achieve a completely fossil-free rolling fleet. To get there, the company intends to offer a fossil-free vehicle lineup by 2040 and a 50% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 as intermediate steps.
The company has the most complete electric lineup in the global truck industry. It manufactures vehicles that can operate at a total weight of 16 to 44 tons, covering everything from city distribution and refusing to handle to urban construction transports and regional haulage.
CEMEX is a global construction materials company based in Germany that offers cement, ready-mixed concrete, aggregates, and utilization solutions for cities. It also aims to achieve carbon neutrality for its operations through research, development, and innovation.
Electrification of concrete transportation is challenging due to heavy loads and continuous mixing demands. As fully electric heavy-duty transport is gradually increasing, Volvo Trucks and CEMEX are working to develop and scale the technologies needed to make emissions-free transport also a reality in the demanding construction industry.
Volvo and CEMEX signed an agreement in 2021 for electromobility solutions to achieve reduced carbon emissions and improved productivity. And the battery electric concrete mixer truck is the latest development of the collaboration.
The mixer body is powered by a hydraulic system that gets its power from a traction battery. The vehicle features a 360-kWh battery bank that gives it complete a full day’s work with a single top-up charge during the regular break.
Additionally, the two companies are founding members of the First Movers coalition, a collaboration between the World Economic Forum with US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, for companies to make purchasing commitments that create market demand for low-carbon technologies. Volvo Trucks and CEMEX are committed to reaching their ambitious sustainability targets and contributing to the decarbonization of the global economy.
