Volvo Group and Samsung alliance to develop electric truck batteries

Volvo Group and Samsung SDI have entered into a strategic alliance to develop battery packs for the vehicle manufacturer’s electric trucks.

Volvo Group hopes the partnership will accelerate the speed of development and strengthen the long-term capabilities and assets within electromobility.

The alliance will cover joint development of battery packs specifically developed for Volvo Group’s trucks.

Martin Lundstedt, president and CEO of Volvo Group, said: “The Volvo Group is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles.

“With electromobility, the increasing needs for transport will be done in a cleaner and quieter way, which opens up new possibilities for our customers and society as a whole.

“The alliance with Samsung SDI is an important next step on our journey towards offering the world’s most truly sustainable transport system with fossil-free alternatives for our commercial vehicles.”

Young-Hyun Jun, CEO of Samsung SDI, added: “As we stand at the crosscurrents of the mobility and transportation industry, we are convinced that this alliance will provide superior offerings pertaining to energy, safety and sustainability to the commercial vehicle industry and beyond.

“We are confident that this alliance will secure the market leadership of the two companies in the long-term.”

Earlier this year, the first Volvo FL Electric trucks were delivered to customers in Europe.

Waste and recycling company Renova took delivery of a refuse truck, while logistics firm DB Schenker and its partner haulier TGM have received a distribution truck.

The Volvo FL Electric trucks are part of a pre-series developed in collaboration with selected customers.

Series production of the Volvo FL Electric and the Volvo FE Electric will commence with a limited number of trucks for the European markets in the second half of 2019.

Volvo Group has also signed an agreement with Nvidia to jointly develop the decision-making system of autonomous commercial vehicles and machines.

Utilising Nvidia’s end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI) platform for training, simulation and in-vehicle computing, the resulting system is designed to safely handle fully autonomous driving on public roads and highways.