Volvo Trucks has unveiled a completely new, fully electric rear axle at the IAA transport show in Hannover, Germany. Freeing up space for more batteries, the new e-axle means even longer range for Volvo’s battery electric trucks.

The new e-axle allows even more batteries on the truck by integrating the electric motors and the transmission into the rear axle. More batteries mean longer range, which creates opportunities for long distance transports to also be electrified. On the fuel cell electric trucks, that will be introduced in the second half of this decade, the additional space comes in handy for installing other components.

“This is a breakthrough for electric trucks and a clear signal that there will be a huge demand for public fast-chargers for heavy trucks in the near future, not the least along highways,” says Jessica Sandstrom, SVP Global Product Management at Volvo Trucks.

Volvo Trucks will start serial production of trucks with the new e-axle in a few years from now and it will complement the current line-up of battery electric trucks. Volvo Trucks has the widest offer of battery electric trucks in the industry, with six different models in serial production.

“We will continue with our versatile battery electric trucks that are already in production. They can currently cover a wide range of transport assignments.  In a few years, we will add this new rear e-axle for customers covering longer routes than today,” continues Jessica Sandström.

Volvo Trucks has a three-path strategy to reach zero emissions; battery electric, fuel cell electric and combustion engines that run on renewable fuels like biogas, HVO or even green hydrogen.