Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy-Transport Solutions)

Volvo Group North America has published a Volvo LIGHTS (Low Impact Green Heavy-Transport Solutions) Lessons Learned Guidebook to commemorate the end of its innovative three-year project, which began in 2019 and concludes in early Fall 2022.

The 22-page guidebook, Bringing Battery-Electric Freight Trucks to Market: From Demonstration to Commercialization, documents key insights gained as the project partners designed and implemented innovative programs and technologies critical for the widescale success of battery-electric freight movement.

The Volvo LIGHTS project helped underscore the many areas in which public and private entities will need to collaborate to develop the ecosystem needed to support customers with successful battery-electric truck adoption – including the build-out of public and private charging infrastructure, a robust dealer support network, incentives and strategies to reduce costs, a trained workforce of technicians, sales consultants, first responders, and more.”

Strong partnership

The Volvo LIGHTS project, led by Volvo Group North America and South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD), is a public-private partnership between 14 organizations aimed at transforming freight movement. Supporting project partners include NFI Industries, Dependable Highway Express (DHE), TEC Equipment, Shell Recharge Solutions (formerly Greenlots), Port of Long Beach, Port of Los Angeles, Southern California Edison, CALSTART, the University of California, Riverside CE-CERT, Reach Out, Rio Hondo College, and San Bernardino Valley College.

Each of the Volvo LIGHTS project partners played an integral role in helping transform goods movement, as they worked together to design a blueprint to introduce zero-tailpipe emission battery-electric trucks and equipment into the market at scale.

“By publishing the Volvo LIGHTS Lessons Learned Guidebook, Volvo Group hopes to shine a light on the key considerations that public and private entities need to plan for to successfully support the introduction of heavy-duty electric trucks across North America,” Voorhoeve continued. “Volvo Group, and Volvo Trucks with the VNR Electric offering, are committed to leading the commercial transportation industry’s transition to zero-emission solutions and look forward to building on the success of this project as we work with other partners to accelerate the adoption of these vehicles in other states.”

Key article points:

Across the United States, more than 70% of all goods used in our daily lives — from food to manufactured products — are transported to our stores and homes by trucks. As the nation’s demand for goods continues to reach record levels, our cities are facing an increase in congestion, noise, and air pollution. Unlike the diesel-fueled trucks we are used to seeing on the roads, battery-electric trucks rely solely on electricity to power the vehicle. As a result, battery-electric trucks are significantly quieter and emit zero tailpipe emissions, which helps cities achieve cleaner and healthier air quality while protecting the climate through greenhouse gas reductions.

For fleet operators, battery-electric trucks also provide an exciting opportunity to reduce fueling and maintenance costs, while helping to meet their sustainability goals. However, switching from diesel to electric power will take far more than just truck technology. The organizations that partnered on the Volvo LIGHTS project (detailed in the following section) played an integral role in helping to transform goods movement, as they worked together to design a blueprint to introduce zero-tailpipe emission battery-electric trucks and equipment into the market at scale. During the project, which ran from 2019 to 2022, the partners demonstrated innovations critical for the commercial success of battery-electric freight movement.

Achieving successful widescale deployment of commercial battery-electric trucks will require a complete paradigm shift that goes beyond delivering a quality vehicle and includes establishing a more holistic support network to help customers make the transition. Through the Volvo LIGHTS project, the diverse set of partners uncovered the value of close cooperation and realized that no single entity could have unilaterally delivered the project.??

The Volvo LIGHTS project was a unique collaboration between Volvo Trucks North America, South Coast Air Quality “Partnership is the new Management District (AQMD), and 12 other organizations that leadership, and we believe each contributed critical expertise, capital, and commitment that strong partnerships to accomplishing the goals of the project. Many of the Volvo is the key to success.” LIGHTS project partners had no previous experience working together (at least in the context of traditional commercial — Volvo Group CEO Martin Lundstedt transactions).?

Insights from LIGHTS:

Identifying Ideal Routes is Key to Electrification Success A variety of businesses utilized Volvo VNR Electric trucks in commercial operation as part of the Volvo LIGHTS project, hauling freight 80-150 miles per day. Assessing the viability of using electric trucks in fleet operations requires looking beyond battery range figure, especially in these early days, given the state of onboard energy storage systems and lack of charging networks. The truck’s range can be impacted by several factors, such as the length of the route between stops, topography (particularly in hilly and mountainous terrains), and weather conditions (particularly, extreme heat or cold). Driving style can also impact the range, making it critical to train drivers on ways to maximize the regenerative braking benefits, which can potentially add between 5-15% of the power back to the battery. The fleet, OEM, and the dealer should work together to understand a fleet’s operational details and identify customer routes and applications that are best suited for electric trucks.

Vehicle manufacturing specs such as gross vehicle weight rating, gross axle weight rating, transmission, engine ratings, tires, electrical and air systems, and cab configuration can vary greatly to meet business needs based on geography, duty cycles, and payloads. With the advent of battery-electric trucks, fleet operators should engage their OEM and dealer partners to determine the vehicle configurations that will best meet their needs, as limited onboard energy and availability of charging affect the range, charging frequency and operational duty cycle. While additional batteries can be added to increase the range, the additional vehicle weight due to the battery pack may impact how much cargo the fleet can transport to stay within the limit of 82,000 GVWR.

To download the Volvo LIGHTS Lessons Learned Guidebook, visit?lightsproject.com/downloads.

Original sources:

• Autosphere
• Volvo Lights Guidebook

Adapted by:

• Tiago Nunes