Volvo has announced FE Electric, a truck with 27 metric tons (approx. 60,000 lbs.) of cargo capacity, impressive 850 Nm (627 lb·ft) of torque and the ability to travel up to 200 kilometers (~120 mi.) on a single charge.
Utility services in Germany will be the first to get the new Volvo FE Electric trucks for the purposes of garbage collection. This isn’t by far the limit of its abilities, though. As an environmentally clean vehicle, the new truck can be used in nature reservations and closed terminals where harmful emissions are undesirable or prohibited altogether.
The manufacturer also hopes that the model becomes popular among transport companies: with the low level of noise it produces the vehicle can be freely used for nighttime shipments, freeing the roads for other kinds of transport during the day.
The Volvo FE Electric will only need an hour and a half to reach full charge using a high-current charging station. Less powerful stations may extend charging time to a maximum of 10 hours.
In the future, Volvo plans to start producing all-electric garbage trucks with full remote control support. The first prototype based on the Volvo FM 330 is already running road tests equipped with a LiDAR, a set of sensors and a GPS navigator.
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