Interestingly, building an all-electric semi is perhaps the most straightforward part of the LIGHTS program. According to Volvo Trucks North America Director of Electric Vehicles Brett Pope, Volvo was not trying to reinvent the wheel, especially when it already had the ideal truck in diesel form. “The VNR is a bulls-eye when it comes to regional transport,” he told us, so the focus was on adapting the existing platform for electric use. This conversion process was further aided by Volvo’s extensive lineup of heavy-duty electric construction vehicles. A highly modular design was the goal, with technology and component-sharing a high priority. From a consumer standpoint, it’s akin to the same battery design powering an entire collection of small power tools.
Brandis also pointed to the progress Volvo has already made overseas. When developing the VNR, “We relied on a great deal of know-how of Volvo Trucks’ production of all-electric, medium-duty vehicles in Europe,” he said.
Externally, the VNR Electric is nearly identical to the diesel-powered VNR. Under the hood, a massive cooling unit and a modular power box reside where the diesel engine used to live. Modular (kWh battery packs — each weighing more than 1, (lbs) (kg) —are mounted amidships on the outboard of the frame. The drive wheels are powered by dual-electric motors connected to a two-speed gearbox. Volvo was mum on power output or battery capacity, but the prototypes are initially expected to deliver between – (miles) 260 – km) of range. As a point of reference, the – ton Volvo FE in Europe produces up to (kW using) kWh of lithium-ion batteries , with a range of up to 349 miles (
km). [For reference, the Volvo FE uses two electric motors rated at 260kW (349hp) continuous power, 370kW (496hp) max power, with 850Nm (627lb-ft) of torque.]
At an event in Fontana, California, last week, Volvo had a variety of electric trucks available for testing, ranging from an unladen tractor to box truck setups, powered by either four- or six-battery configurations. The first thing you notice is just how utterly silent these massive trucks are. It’s easy to forget how synonymous the sound of a rumbling diesel engine is with a semi — until you witness one in motion without it. Thankfully, the rifle-shot sound of an air-compressor bleed-off is very much intact.
(Automatic regen mode
Truckers will feel right at home in the cab of the VNR Electric, as all of the inputs and controls carry over from the diesel version, albeit with a few electric-specific controls and gauges. A power / charge display takes the place of the tachometer, and three levels of regen can be selected by a column stalk used for engine braking in the diesel models. It’s also possible to set regen to an Automatic setting, which measures payload, elevation, and targeted range to put the maximum power back to the batteries as smoothly as possible. Pushing past the appropriately leisurely throttle tip-in reveals a decent reserve of torque, and this big Volvo gets up to highway speeds in short order. While it will be interesting to see how a fully laden tractor-trailer will perform, real-world testing is the goal here, not 0 – times.
Getting the VNR Electric into the hands of transportation companies is where this real-world testing begins, and Brandis is eager to move on to that next phase. These first five pilot trucks “will be placed into consumer operations for daily use once their charging systems are powered on, which is expected to be within the coming weeks,” he said.
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