On the Nordic Tracks with Volvo Vehicles – Truck Tech

Flash ahead to early September, and I used to be as soon as once more in Gothenburg as Volvo’s visitor. And this time, on a check observe a number of miles away from the harbor, an array of 15 or so production-model battery-electric vehicles sat lined up within the daylight awaiting check drives.

These vehicles spanned Volvo’s total European product portfolio and had been accessible in nearly any configuration conceivable. There have been medium-duty straight vehicles, heavy-duty dump vehicles, tractor-trailers, and B-trains. And each single one was a cabover, in fact.

Easy Energy, Quiet Efficiency

It is an spectacular array of vehicles in Gothenburg and proof that Volvo is doing excess of simply speaking about an emissions-free future for trucking. The OEM is clearly investing huge quantities of cash, in addition to untold engineering and design hours, in these new vehicles.

The outcomes are plainly seen: Every little thing about these electrical vehicles is production-worthy, from the match and end to the inside appointments. These vehicles are as protected, dependable, and productive as any Volvo has ever placed on the street.

As I’ve stated earlier than, the one factor these vehicles can’t do {that a} diesel truck can is match them on vary. Aside from that, there’s nothing second-rate about an electrical truck. Fairly the opposite, in actual fact.

I by no means fail to be impressed with the moment, spectacular pulling energy electrical vehicles have. These Volvo BEVs had been no exception. Actually, the primary characteristic you encounter once you depart the Volvo Vehicles Heart car parking zone in Gothenburg is a 6% uphill grade, which you don’t have any alternative however to climb earlier than you’ve constructed up any street velocity. In each occasion, the Volvo electrical vehicles simply powered up the grade with out the slightest trace of bother.

Similar to on a diesel truck, you’ll be able to set your engine brake as aggressively as you want. On an electrical truck, it’s actually extra of a retarder system that determines how aggressively you need to use the regenerative braking system to place kinetic power again into the batteries. However at its most excessive setting, the system is highly effective sufficient to carry the truck to a whole cease on the downgrade when you’ve crested the hill.

The opposite factor that must be talked about is how amazingly easy these Volvo electrical powertrains are. You’ll catch the standard fifth-wheel lag in the event you’ve received a trailer behind you. However aside from that, there are nearly no powertrain vibrations reverberating by way of the cab or the chassis. You get some street shock, in fact. However the total smoothness of the acceleration and deceleration, together with the unbelievable quietness of the powertrain, is one thing that must be skilled to be totally appreciated.

Truck drivers a few a long time from now will look again and snort in disbelief at how noisy and shaky right now’s diesel vehicles are in comparison with the electrical fashions that might be commonplace by that point.

Searching for the ICE Holy Grail

The next day noticed us out within the dense Scandinavian forests about an hour exterior of Gothenburg on the prime secret Hällered proving grounds, a check facility Volvo Vehicles shares with Volvo Vehicles. Right here we noticed two of the OEM’s most cutting-edge zero-emission options, each of that are nonetheless within the analysis and growth part.

Volvo is about to bid farewell to diesel without end. However that doesn’t imply it thinks the inner combustion engine’s time has handed. Fairly the opposite, in actual fact. Volvo made it clear that it’s aggressively researching clear gas choices for (largely) conventional — however superior — ICE applied sciences, that may ship vary, efficiency and upkeep very near what diesel ICEs have right now.

Hydrogen is, in fact, the Holy Grail on the subject of zero-emission ICE know-how. However it’s probably that totally different clear/renewable fuels could also be utilized in totally different areas and functions. To show that time, Volvo granted CDL holders some observe time behind the wheel of its RNG-powered Class FM mannequin, which carried out precisely as marketed.

In nearly each side, from look to efficiency, the truck behaves virtually precisely like a contemporary diesel truck does. It even sounds the identical, though I discussed to the engineer driving shotgun that the engine sounded only a shade quieter than a diesel powerplant does. He agreed with me and stated that few drivers picked up on that distinction.

My colleague, HDT Tools Editor Jim Park, agreed with that evaluation normally. However he additionally gave loads of credit score to the sound dampening on Volvo’s European cabovers, which he says is among the many most spectacular he’s skilled in his a few years of driving.

The Finish of Vary Nervousness?

The star of the present at Hällered, nonetheless, was the Volvo FM gas cell battery-electric truck being examined. As a result of the truck remains to be within the R&D part, Volvo wasn’t letting anybody however its engineers behind the steering wheel. However even driving shotgun, it’s clear that this fuel-cell know-how has large potential for clear and inexperienced long-haul functions.

From a distance, the fuel-cell-electric FH mannequin appears loads like a CNG-powered truck right now. That is primarily as a result of giant, rectangular casing on the again of the cab, which homes the gas cells that convert hydrogen into electrical energy.

Volvo engineers informed us that often, the gas cells break the hydrogen down at a reasonably constant fee that’s nominally not depending on throttle inputs. In different phrases, including throttle doesn’t essentially imply you’re utilizing hydrogen at a quick fee, as is the case with fossil fuels.

Whereas among the electrical energy created goes into the battery for storage and later use, the majority of it’s despatched straight into the electrical motors that propel the truck ahead. So, it’s not like as soon as all of the hydrogen is gone you’ve received a totally charged battery to maintain driving with.

Once more, I wasn’t allowed within the driver’s seat. However from the passenger seat, the fuel-cell truck feels equivalent to a pure battery-electric truck when it comes to efficiency. It’s as easy and quiet as a battery-electric mannequin. The acceleration is indistinguishable as properly.

All that for nothing greater than some steam and liquid water coming off of the gas cell exhaust system.

The underside line from Sweden is that every one of those vehicles carry out precisely as Volvo promised they’d. Aside from vary. And, given the work Volvo is doing with alt-fuel ICEs and FCBEVs, who is aware of? Maybe sooner or later, vary may not be as large a stumbling block for alt-fuel automobile adoption because it presently is for fleets in longer-haul functions. Nothing is carved in stone but.

And, as my quick go to to Sweden made clear, Volvo remains to be working arduous on options to assist the transition to zero emissions as productive and painless as attainable.