STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Volvo Group said on Monday its unit Volvo Trucks plans to sell 1,000 electric trucks to Swiss building solutions provider Holcim (SIX:HOLN) for delivery over the next seven years, the biggest order ever for Volvo electric trucks.
"The deal is the largest commercial order to date for Volvo electric trucks," said AB Volvo, which also sells trucks under other brands such as Mack, Renault (EPA:RENA) and UD Trucks.
The first 130 trucks, the heavy electric Volvo FH and Volvo FM models, will be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2023 and throughout 2024.
The company didn't provide details on the value of the order.
Volvo said in an email the delivery pace for the remaining trucks would be determined together with Holcim.
The first trucks will be delivered to markets including France, Germany, Switzerland, and Britain, with the aim of deploying all the 1,000 trucks around Holcim’s operations in Europe.
Volvo Trucks, which plans for 50% of its truck sales to be electric by 2030, has seen an influx in orders for electric trucks in the past quarters as companies step up efforts to meet their zero-emission targets.
With demand expected to rise, Volvo Trucks has started scaling up production at three plants in Sweden, France and the U.S and also expects to start production at a factory in Belgium in the third quarter of 2023.
The company said all trucks delivered in the Holcim order would be battery electric trucks (BEV).
In addition to BEVs, Volvo, like other truck makers, is working on hydrogen-powered fuel cell trucks, which are expected to be available to the market in the second half of this decade.