Scania Teams With ASKO To Test Battery-Electric Trucks In City-Distribution Applications In Norway
Swedish truck manufacturer Scania has entered a pilot programme in conjunction with ASKO, a Norwegian maker of environmentally friendly appliances, to use two Scania battery-electric trucks for city-distribution applications. Karin Rådström, Scania head of sales and marketing, notes that electrification will be key to a long-term, sustainable transport system utilising heavy vehicles. She further explains that reaching that point will require “customer-near development to understand the impact on the customers’ full operations, not only making sure that a technical solution works and the electricity that charges the batteries is sourced from renewable energy.”
“Sound Standalone Investment”
Scania says its approach to electrification includes researching and developing a “broad palette of solutions,” including various types of bio-fuel hybrid-electric technologies and fully electric trucks and buses. Scania is also focused on electric-vehicle charging methods, including plug-in charging as well as pantograph- and hydrogen-powered fuel cell charging. While Scania expects we’ll soon reach a “tipping point where electrification for heavy transport will become a sound standalone investment” for customers, the firm acknowledges “we are not quite there yet.” As such, Scania notes the project with ASKO received financial assistance from Enova, a state-run enterprise owned by Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment that’s tasked with promoting a shift to environmentally friendly energy consumption and production.
Scania says it has seen positive results from usage of its hybrid vehicles used in electric mode in city centre settings, and that launching a pilot featuring fully electric battery-powered trucks for city distribution was a logical next step. With the battery technology currently available, Scania says, battery-electric trucks are limited to driving shorter distances, and the batteries must be recharged—something that can occur while loading/unloading goods. The two 27-tonne Scania trucks in the ASKO programme are equipped with 165-kilowatt-hour Li-ion batteries that support a 120-kilometre range. The companies are using 130-kilowatt charging cables to recharge the batteries.
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