It will soon be possible to buy an electric truck from Volvo, partly made of SSAB’s fossil-free steel. But the availability of the material is still very limited.
In October last year, Volvo unveiled the world’s first machine made of fossil-free steel, an autonomous and electrically powered load carrier from Volvo CE.
Volvo now announces that during the third quarter of this year, they will also start using fossil-free steel in the manufacture of the company’s trucks, mainly electric ones.
But it is about a “small-scale introduction” to begin with.
– The volumes of available steel are limited and at the start of production in Q3, it is not enough to use in all electric trucks, hence the small scale, writes Volvo Trucks’ press officer Jan Strandhede in an email to Ny Teknik.
How many trucks do you expect to have this year, in one place or so? And what does it look like in 2023?
– The most important thing now is that we are working on this. So far, the supply is limited and we do not yet know what volumes we can get from SSAB, says Jan Strandhede.
SSAB delivers the fossil-free steel
The steel is made of iron produced by reduction with renewable hydrogen instead of fossil coal. SSAB is part of the consortium Hybrit, which has built a pilot plant for the production of iron fungus in Luleå together with LKAB and Vattenfall. The larger demonstration facility in Gällivare will be up and running in 2026.
The component for the trucks that will initially be made of fossil-free steel are the frame beams. Two are needed and they weigh a total of about 360 kilos, but it also depends on how far the vehicle is, according to Jan Strandhede.
567 kilos of carbon dioxide savings
SSAB reckons that conventional production of crude steel gives rise to emissions of 1.6 tonnes of carbon dioxide per tonne of steel. For the fossil-free steel, the corresponding value is 25 kilos per tonne of steel, ie only 1.6 percent.
If you use the same values as above on a 360 kilo frame beam, this means an emission saving of 567 kilos of carbon dioxide.
Will trucks with a fossil-free steel frame beam cost more, and if so, how much?
– It is a higher cost, but we see that customers are looking for solutions that reduce CO2 and then it is natural to not only look at emissions from driving but also those that production causes. Now we use the amount of steel we get and when deliveries increase, it will be a customer choice, says Jan Strandhede.
Volvo currently sells three electric truck models in Europe (FL, FE and FM / FMX Electric). VNR Electric is also sold in the USA. Later this year, Volvo will begin series production of the larger electric truck FH Electric, with a load capacity of 40 tonnes.
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