Belgium to become a base for electrifying road haulage in Europe
Being a pioneering country for testing hydrogen-powered trucks, Belgium will also become a base for manufacturing electric vehicles. Volvo Trucks, the Sweden-based manufacturer, intends to construct a battery assembly plant in the city of Ghent. The facility will be focused on supplying battery packs for electric heavy goods vehicles, which are operated in the European market.
The Ghent battery plant will be Volvo’s first site of this kind in Belgium. It will be dedicated to assembling cells and modules from Samsung SDI into battery packs that are tailor-made for Volvo Trucks’ heavy-duty electric range: Volvo FH, Volvo FM and Volvo FMX. The Swedish company plans to launch series production in the third quarter of the current year.
“This investment shows our strong commitment to electrifying truck transportation. By 2030, at least 50 per cent of all trucks we sell globally will be electric and by 2040, we will be a carbon-neutral company,” said Roger Alm, President of Volvo Trucks.
Battery packs
Each battery pack has a capacity of 90 kilowatt-hours and the customer can choose to have up to six battery packs (540 kilowatt-hours) in a truck. The number of batteries depends on each customer’s specific range and load capacity demands.
“By integrating the battery assembly process in our production flow, we can shorten lead times for our customers and secure high-performing batteries, while at the same time increase circularity,” added Roger Alm. Volvo Trucks’ batteries are designed so that they can later be remanufactured, refurbished and reused. The plant itself is powered by 100 per cent renewable energy.
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