Volvo Trucks North America announced it will begin selling the Volvo VNR Electric truck model on Dec. 3. It will start producing the VNR Electric at its New River Valley manufacturing plant in Dublin, Virginia, in early 2021.

“Volvo Trucks is committed to lead the commercial transport industry towards more sustainable solutions by advancing electromobility. We will continue to invest in and drive the development of this technology, both globally and right here in North America,” said Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America. “We are excited to bring the Volvo VNR Electric to the market in just a few weeks.”

Volvo Trucks, as a global organization, announced the same day at the Volvo Group Capital Markets Day that it will offer a complete range of electric heavy-duty trucks in Europe in 2021. This will be followed by the development of electric vehicles for heavy long-haul operations, including battery-electric and fuel-cell electric trucks with a longer range. Volvo Trucks plans to start selling electric trucks powered by hydrogen fuel cells in the second half of this decade, and the objective is to have a fossil-free product range by 2040. 

More details on the truck are scheduled to be released on Dec. 3.

Volvo initially announced in late 2018 that it planned to sell an all-electric truck called the Volvo VNR Electric in North America by 2020. While plans were somewhat delayed by the Coronavirus pandemic, the company forged ahead with its electric-truck development project.

In June, it deployed the first Volvo VNR Electric in Southern California as part of the Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions) project, and has since been rolling out additional pilot trucks with fleets such as NFI Industries and Dependable Supply Chain Services.

“As part of the very successful Volvo LIGHTS project [Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions], which we started in 2019 in Southern California in collaboration with 14 other pioneering organizations, we validated the viability and reliability of the Volvo VNR Electric in real-world operations and proved what it takes to create a holistic, end-to-end electromobility solution to drive true sustainability in the trucking industry,” said Voorhoeve. “We are fully confident in bringing this new technology to the commercial market.”

The Volvo LIGHTS project will continue in 2021. Volvo Trucks North America was recently awarded $20 million in grants to deploy 70 VNR Electric trucks with fleets in southern California as part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Targeted Air Shed Grant Program, plus $1.7 million in charging infrastructure funding from the South Coast Air Quality Management District. The trucks will be delivered to a handful of Southern California fleet operators in 2021, with the program ending in the third quarter of 2022. Volvo Trucks is committed to delivering close to 100 VNR Electric trucks to the area.