The e-trucks will be used for local deliveries in places like Duisburg and the Bremen/Bremerhaven area in Germany, including container shunting within warehouse areas. The first two units of the Volvo FH electric trucks are expected to be delivered in Q4 2023, with the remaining units to be delivered by Q1 2024.
The deployment of e-trucks is expected to alleviate noise emissions in residential areas near the warehouses where they will be operationalized.
Maersk is also exploring the establishment of charging infrastructure with green electricity for its e-truck fleet in Germany.
Maersk previously ordered 110 Volvo VNR electric trucks for North America and is involved in e-truck initiatives in other countries, along with low GHG emission rail solutions and climate-neutral bio-fuels.
The project is supported by funding from the German Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport as part of the "Climate-friendly commercial vehicles and infrastructure (KsNI)" program.
"The successful deployment of e-trucks in the US and the rising demand of many customers for climate-neutral hinterland logistics made the German order a logical next step in our efforts to further decarbonize hinterland logistics. It’s still early days in e-trucking: higher total cost of ownership, long project deployment times due to lack of infrastructure, and operational inefficiencies are some of the challenges. But these can only be overcome, if all industry players, customers and governments work together. By taking a lead on demand for e-trucks and infrastructure, we want to play our part of unlocking the chicken-and-egg situation and inspire others to follow along.", said Julia Heil, Head of Energy Transition Execution at Maersk in Copenhagen.
Source: Maersk
