Volvo Group, Daimler Truck, and Traton Group formed a joint venture to install and operate a charging network for electric heavy-duty trucks. Which is to enhance customer confidence in buying electric trucks.
EU’s zero-carbon emission goals are rigorous, and charging infrastructure is still a hurdle. Producing electric vehicles in mass production can lead to less demand. So the Daimler, Volvo, and Traton joint venture plan to invest 500 euros. They will install at least 1,700 high-performance green energy charging points. Destinations will include both highways and logistic points.
The three companies are competitors to each other but have come together for the better benefit for them and to their customers. As the number of charging points increases, the funding will take place from public funding. Furthermore, the joint venture acknowledges the need to install a high-performance charging network to support their own electric heavy-duty trucks. In addition to finding carbon-neutral transport solutions, it is much cheaper, fast, and efficient.
European Car Industry Association (ECIA) is working on installing 50,000 high-performance charging stations. By 2030, various places including remote and within the areas will have charging stations. According to Traton’s CEO, roughly 10 billion euros will be needed to install all charging stations in Europe. By 2025, Europe is to have at least 15,000 charging stations. The signing of the JV agreement is not yet done and is expected to be done by 2021 end.
CEOs say..
Chief executive of Daimler Trucks, Martin Daum said, “The key ingredient in the future rolling-out of electric vehicles will be the infrastructure. It will be the big bottleneck.”
President and CEO of Volvo Group, Martin Lundstedt said, “We are laying the necessary foundation in making a breakthrough for our customers to make the transformation to electrification by creating a European charging network leader. We have powerful electromobility technologies, and now, with Daimler Truck, the TRATON GROUP and thanks to the European Green Deal, also an industry-wide understanding as well as a political environment to make fundamental progress towards sustainable transport and infrastructure solutions.”
CEO Traton Group, Matthias Gründler said, “For the TRATON GROUP, it is clear that the future of transport is electric. This requires the rapid development of publicly accessible charging points, especially for long-distance heavy-duty transport. We are now moving forward together with our partners Daimler Truck and Volvo Group to make this high-performance network a reality as quickly as possible. We now make the first step to accelerate the transition towards sustainable, fossil-free transport. The second step should be a strong engagement of the EU for the full scale-up of a charging network across Europe.”