Dive Brief:
- A.P. Moller - Maersk said it would order an additional 110 electric trucks from Volvo to support increased demand from customers looking to decarbonize their supply chains, according to an announcement on Tuesday.
- The VNR Electric Class 8 trucks are set to be delivered by the end of the first quarter of 2023, and are in addition to the 16 Volvo trucks Maersk ordered in September 2021. The trucks will be used in Southern California for short-haul warehouse and distribution center operations, the announcement said.
- The order comes less than a week after Maersk said it would buy 300 Einride electric trucks, which are expected to be deployed throughout its North America network between 2023 and 2025. Maersk expects to deploy 450 electric trucks in North America from various manufacturers by the end of 2023.
Dive Insight:
Maerk is ramping up orders of electric trucks as the carrier works to go carbon neutral throughout its operation by 2040. The company's long-term goal is to operate a fully electric trucking fleet to offer more environmentally friendly alternatives to short-haul trucking.
"Electric Vehicle technology is in the early stages and we’re committed to working closely with our partners to pilot and optimize the technology to scale it across our operations," Narin Phol, regional managing director for Maersk North America, said in a statement.
More businesses have targeted transportation emissions as a way to make progress on sustainability goals. Electric truck deployment is expected to increase more than 10 times within 10 years, according to a study from Calstart.
Volvo's electric truck has an operating range of up to 440 km and energy storage of up to 565kWh, according to a statement. The truck can be charged 80% in either 90 or 60 minutes, depending on the truck's battery pack. The vehicles will be used to support Maersk's logistics company Performance Team, which operates over 70 omnichannel fulfillment centers throughout North America.
The trucks will support a variety of transportation assignments and will serve "port drayage and warehouse distribution routes" in California, Volvo said. Performance Team will also install electric charging infrastructure at its facility in Santa Fe Springs, California, over the next two months.
"Our customers are looking for tangible actions on sustainable supply chains - not just conceptual," said Vincent Clerc, CEO of Ocean and Logistics at Maersk, in a statement. "With this in mind we move decisively towards building an end-to-end, landside decarbonization offering for our customers – in line with our target to extend Maersk net-zero efforts to all transport modes in our global operation."
