Volvo

Volvo

Volvo

Derek Powell

Volvo

Volvo

Derek Powell

Derek Powell

Derek Powell

Derek Powell

Derek Powell

Derek Powell

Derek Powell

The reality of a production-ready fully electric semi is now upon us, at least for the short-haul routes. Last week, Volvo Trucks revealed the VNR Electric, the centerpiece of an ambitious and highly collaborative $90-million pilot project. It's known as Low-Impact Green Heavy Transport Solution, or LIGHTS for short. In addition to Volvo, which has invested $36.7 million, 14 other entities from both the public sector and private enterprise have signed on to this collaboration.

"Bringing electric trucks commercially to market takes more than the launch of the truck," says Keith Brandis, vice president of partnerships and strategic solutions at Volvo Group. "With the LIGHTS program, Volvo and its partners are working on creating a true holistic strategy," simultaneously studying not only the performance of the truck itself, but also variables such as maintenance needs, route logistics, infrastructure requirements, and environmental impact.

"Goods movement in the region is one of the biggest contributors to smog-causing emissions and 22 percent of emissions from California's overall transport sector," says Harmeet Singh, chief technology officer at Greenlots, the company developing and deploying the charging infrastructure for the LIGHTS program.

"Our goal for the project is to demonstrate that electric trucks and the requisite charging infrastructure and systems are ready for real-world application," Singh told Ars.

"The VNR is a bulls-eye when it comes to regional transport"

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 wasn't 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 66kWh battery packs—each weighing more than 1,200lbs (540kg)—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 75-175 miles (120-280km) of range. As a point of reference, the 30-ton Volvo FE in Europe produces up to 400kW using 200kWh of lithium-ion batteries, with a range of up to 186 miles (300km). 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 0-60 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.

This is where the collaborative partnership of LIGHTS really comes into play. Goods transport is a tightly coordinated system of logistics and timing and depends on a consistent, reliable supply chain. Singh explains: "One of the goals of the pilot is to see how electric trucks and their usage pattern can be woven into various duty cycles for freight customers."

The expected range of 75-175 miles is an important metric. The Inland Empire region of Southern California is an ideal starting place for these routes: the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are roughly 50 miles (80km) away, the massive Colton rail depot lies 20 miles (32km) to the east, and Ontario International Airport is just around the corner.

As it is, the initial operators of the VNR Electric will have to contend with a higher initial cost, a shorter range, and additional weight, which means tweaking that existing successful model of transport to accommodate an electric vehicle's inherent shortcomings. But Brandis views these as opportunities, not challenges. "Our years of experience with heavy-duty trucks taught us to expect service issues as part of the testing. We will use telematics technology to see truck miles operated, loads hauled, battery state of charge, and charging cycles."

Evaluating that data will be essential to the official launch of the VNR Electric, which is set to start production by the end of 2020. And though the LIGHTS program is in its nascent stages, Troy Musgrave, director of process improvement for Dependable Transportation, is optimistic about its expansion beyond Southern California. While the VNR Electric has a long way to go, "My hope is that battery technology will accelerate to match the range and use cycles that we have with diesel today."

Listing image by Volvo