Volvo Trucks North America has received its largest global order of Class 8 electric trucks to date with Performance Team, part of Maersk, making a total commitment to purchase 126 Volvo VNR Electric trucks. The logistics company placed its first order of 16 Volvo VNR Electrics in Q3 2021 which will begin operating in Q2 2022 along Southern California port drayage and warehouse distribution routes. Performance Team has ordered an additional 110 Volvo VNR Electric trucks to scale its zero-tailpipe emission freight logistics fleet in 2022. All 126 trucks are scheduled for deployment by Q1 2023.
“Volvo Trucks, in partnership with our dealer TEC Equipment, is excited to continue growing our collaboration with Maersk on its fleet sustainability goals and commends the organization’s scaled investments in electromobility solutions,” VTNA President Peter Voorhoeve said. “Incredibly, this is the second time in less than a year that Volvo Trucks has had the opportunity to announce that Performance Team has placed the largest order of Volvo VNR Electrics to date, which underscores their organization’s firm commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.”
As the world’s largest integrated container logistics company, Maersk is leading a variety of initiatives to improve supply chain sustainability throughout each of its business lines. The acquisition of zero-tailpipe-emission, Class 8 Volvo VNR Electric trucks is part of Maersk’s environmental social governance (ESG) strategy to decarbonize logistics.
“Our customers are looking for tangible actions on sustainable supply chains—not just conceptual. With this in mind, we move decisively towards building an end-to-end, landside decarbonization offering for our customers—in line with our target to extend Maersk net-zero efforts to all transport modes in our global operation,” said Vincent Clerc, CEO of Ocean & Logistics at A.P. Moller – Maersk. “These investments in our North America network will generate valuable experience for the continued journey towards similar customer offerings across the globe.”
The order was facilitated in collaboration with TEC Equipment, Volvo Trucks’ largest West Coast dealership and the first to achieve the Volvo Trucks Certified Electric Vehicle (EV) Dealer designation in North America in 2021. TEC Equipment’s Fontana and La Mirada locations in Southern California will support Performance Team in maximizing the uptime of their Volvo VNR Electric fleets. As Volvo Trucks Certified EV Dealers, the two TEC Equipment locations have trained and equipped their service teams to safely perform battery-electric truck maintenance and repairs for customers.
“Our excitement for this partnership with Performance Team continues to grow as we see their commitment towards offering more sustainable transportation solutions in Southern California accelerate,” said David Thompson, founder and CEO of TEC Equipment. “We stand ready to help all our EV customers maximize their uptime and celebrate the advancement of electromobility.”
The Volvo VNR Electric model has been designed as a sustainable transportation solution for fleet operators supporting local and regional distribution, pickup and delivery, and food and beverage distribution. In January 2022, Volvo Trucks announced production plans for its next generation VNR Electric model with an operational range of up to 275 miles. The enhanced Volvo VNR Electric comes with state-of-the-art 250kW charging capability, enabling an 80% charge in 90 minutes for the six-battery package and 60 minutes for the four-battery version.
