Volvo Group creates business area dedicated to electrification

Joachim Rosenberg will head the new business.

Volvo Group has announced the creation of a new business area, Volvo Energy, that the company said will strengthen the Volvo Group’s business flow of batteries over the life cycle as well as the customer offerings for charging infrastructure. At the same time, the environmental impact from electric and hybrid electric commercial vehicles and machines will be reduced by giving used batteries a second life in different applications, the company said.

“There is a great and growing interest for electric vehicles and machines among our customers,” said Martin Lundstedt, Volvo Group president and CEO. “This is of course very positive as it accelerates the transition towards more sustainable transport solutions.

“Our ambition is to offer our customers the most competitive solutions when it comes to electrification, including batteries and charging infrastructure. With Volvo Energy, we are taking a holistic view of the entire life cycle, which benefits both our customers’ business and society as a whole.”

The Volvo Group’s already offers electric vehicles and machines ranging from city buses and trucks for waste management, construction and urban distribution to compact excavators and loaders. The roll-out of additional, electric vehicles and related services will continue with high pace and later this year, it will also include heavy-duty trucks for regional transports or construction.

Volvo Energy will be a business area with full profit and loss responsibility. It will have both an internal role, providing batteries and charging solutions to the Volvo Group’s other business areas, and an external role, offering used, remanufactured and refurbished batteries to customers for use across different applications. Volvo Energy will also carry the Group’s responsibility for hydrogen infrastructure solutions for fuel cell electric vehicles. Collaborations with various business partners and actors across the ecosystem will be key, the company said.

Commercial vehicle batteries will be used for many years in the vehicle before they need to be replaced or remanufactured/refurbished, Volvo said. However, if completely new batteries are fitted to the vehicle, the used ones will generally still have considerable life left to offer, which makes them ideal for energy storage purposes in, for example, buildings or in green energy production.

“With Volvo Energy, we are further increasing our focus on this important area,” said Lundstedt. “We are also giving vehicle batteries a second life, which is both a business opportunity and a way to contribute to the creation of a circular economy and a fossil-free society.”

Joachim Rosenberg, member of the Volvo Group executive board and chairman of UD Trucks, will head the new business area. Starting in February 2021, he will lead the effort to create Volvo Energy while also continuing to run UD Trucks and preparing the transfer of UD Trucks ownership to Isuzu Motors as part of the previously communicated strategic alliance between the Volvo Group and Isuzu Motors.

The financial results for Volvo Energy will be reported as part of the Volvo Truck segment.