Volvo Trucks North America has received an order from NFI Industries for 60 heavy-duty electric trucks. NFI bought the latest generation of the VNR Electric and will deploy the new zero-emission vehicles in Ontario, California, starting this year.
NFI aims to operate a 100% zero-emission freight logistics fleet. The trucks on order come with a six-battery-pack configuration, which provides an operational range of up to 275 miles. The “enhanced” Volvo VNR Electric began production in Q2 2022 and also offers faster charging at 250kW for 80% charge in 90 minutes. The first generation Volvo VNR Electric still had a range of up to 150 miles (240 kilometres).
While the parties did not disclose the value of the contract, they are working with CARB and EPA and other local authorities to deploy the trucks. Twenty of the 60 new trucks will be part of the Joint Electric Truck Scaling Initiative (JETSI) project. Thirty vehicles will reportedly enter service with funding from California’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP). Ten trucks are part of the SWITCH-ON project, which was awarded to Volvo Trucks to deploy battery-electric trucks in Southern California for regional freight transportation.
It is also the second time Volvo and NFI are working on a project together. NFI took part in the Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy Transport Solutions) project that began in 2019 when piloting two VNR Electric trucks in its commercial operations.
“Our experience with the Volvo LIGHTS project was a major factor in NFI’s decision to purchase VNR Electric trucks for our drayage operations,” said Bill Bliem, senior vice president of fleet services at NFI. “We are continuing to invest in Volvo Trucks because of the proven viability and success we have had operating the Volvo VNR Electrics in our real-world routes.”
The infrastructure to support NFI’s zero‐emission fleet is being developed by Electrify America as part of the joint plan to build a large heavy-duty electric truck charging network in the USA. The project will provide 19 350 kW ultra-fast chargers with 38 dispensers to support NFI’s growing battery-electric drayage fleet that serves the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
The Volvo VNR Electric is one of six all-electric heavy-duty truck models from Volvo Trucks developed specifically for the North American market. Customers were able to place their first orders for the predecessor model in December 2020, with production starting in the second quarter of 2021 at the company’s New River Valley production plant in Dublin, Virginia.
Keyword: NFI orders 60 Volvo VNR Electric trucks