Volvo Trucks plans to introduce all-electric truck demonstrators in California next year, and commercialize them in North America in 2020.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has awarded $44.8 million to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) for the Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions) project, which will involve 16 partners. The LIGHTS project aims to electrify freight operations at two major California trucking fleet facilities.

Volvo Trucks will deploy eight multi-configuration Class 8 electric demonstration units (GVW 15+ tons), and an additional 15 pre-commercial and commercial units, throughout California’s South Coast Air Basin. The project will also integrate non-truck battery-electric equipment, non-proprietary chargers, and solar energy production equipment.

The demonstration units will be based on the technology currently used in the Volvo FE Electric, which Volvo presented in May and will begin selling in Europe in 2019.

A variety of smart technologies, including remote diagnostics, geofencing and Volvo’s web-based service management platform, will be used to monitor truck performance and maximize vehicle uptime.

“This is an excellent opportunity to show the end-to-end potential of electrification,” said Peter Voorhoeve, President of Volvo Trucks North America. “From solar energy harvesting at our customer locations, to electric vehicle uptime services, to potential second uses for batteries, this project will provide invaluable experience and data for the whole value chain.”

Source: Volvo via Green Car Congress