Swedish commercial vehicle maker Volvo trucks has announced the opening of its battery assembly plant located in Ghent, Belgium. The plant will supply ready-to-install batteries for Volvo Trucks’ full-electric heavy-duty trucks.
According to the press release from the company, the new battery plant will assemble cells and modules from Samsung SDI into battery packs that are tailor-made for Volvo Trucks’ heavy-duty electric range, including Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX. The series production will commence in the third quarter of this year.
The company noted that each battery pack has a capacity of 90 kWh, and the customer can choose to have up to six battery packs (540 kWh) in a truck.
Further, the number of batteries depends on each customer’s specific range and load capacity demands. The company said that these batteries are designed to be remanufactured, refurbished and reused. The plant itself is powered by 100% renewable energy.
Roger Alm, President, Volvo Trucks, said, “By integrating the battery assembly process in our production flow, we can shorten lead times for our customers and secure high-performing batteries, while at the same time increase circularity.”
He continued that by 2030, at least 50% of all trucks sold by the company globally will be electric and by 2040, it aims to be a carbon-neutral company.
With the production of three heavy-duty full-electric models starting this year in Europe, the company will offer a total of six electric truck models globally.
“We started series-production of electric trucks already in 2019 and are leading the market both in Europe and North America. With the rapid development of charging networks, and improvements in battery technology, I am convinced that we will see a rapid transformation of the entire truck industry in the very near future,” Alm concluded.