The manufacturer of industrial vehicles and heavy machinery, Volvo Group, continues to make plans to increase its capacity to build electric vehicles. This company, which is not directly related to Volvo Cars -nor its parent company, Geely- plans that 35% of its sales by 2030 correspond to electric models.
It currently has a range of six trucks, the most comprehensive on the market, and packages battery modules and cells supplied by a supplier, Samsung SDI, at a facility in Belgium. This is part of the Ghent factory, where the FH, FM, and FMX trucks are produced, currently in the pilot phase of production.
But this is not going to be enough in the future, so they are going to have a battery cell factory in Sweden. Your destination will be trucks, buses, and heavy machinery. The first steps have been taken, and the feasibility study has put an ‘x’ on a part of the Swedish map: Mariestad, close to the Skövde engine factory and two hours from its headquarters in Gothenburg.
This location has been chosen for its existing infrastructure and logistics capacity in the region, as well as its knowledge of advanced and large-volume production. On the other hand, it is attractive due to the availability of renewable energies to reduce the carbon footprint. The plant will produce cells specially designed for heavy industrial vehicles.
The planning is years in advance since by 2030 production will already be on a large scale. First, the administrative and environmental procedures must be solved. Then the factory will be erected, limited production will start, and as milestones are met, they will go to full scale. In the meantime, the cells will continue to be provided by external providers.
This announcement, in principle, has nothing to do with those made by Volvo Cars, which also has its roadmap for a massive deployment of electric versions, having frozen the development of gasoline and diesel, and with a date of known expiration for its plug-in hybrids. The Volvo Trucks division has been manufacturing electric trucks since 2019.
