Volvo opens first battery assembly plant for electric trucks in Ghent – Image and sound – News

Volvo Trucks has opened its first battery assembly plant for electric trucks in Ghent, Belgium. Volvo will make batteries from Samsung cells and modules in the factory. Volvo previously considered building a second battery factory for passenger cars in Ghent.

although according to Volvo Trucks the factory is open on Mondays, serial production will not start until the third quarter of this year. Then Volvo will make 90 kWh battery packs in the factory. Volvo’s trucks can fit up to six battery packs, which means that a truck can have a maximum capacity of 540kWh.

According to Volvo, how many batteries are in a truck depends on how the truck will be used and how much it must be able to carry. The company does not say how many batteries it plans to assemble per year. Cells and modules from Samsung’s battery branch SDI are used for the batteries.

Because Volvo now assembles its own batteries, the manufacturer says it can shorten lead times for customers and ensure that high-quality batteries are used. According to Volvo, the factory uses renewable energy and the batteries can be overhauled, refurbished and reused after use.

The batteries are suitable for Volvo’s FH, FM and FMX trucks. These are Volvo’s heavier trucks and the series production of these vehicles starts in the fall† In addition to these heavier trucks, Volvo already produces medium-duty trucks with the FE, FL and VNR. Volvo wants at least half of all trucks sold that year to be fully electric by 2030.

The new factory is Volvo Trucks’ first battery factory, but car manufacturer Volvo has had a battery assembly plant in Ghent since 2019. This makes batteries for electric passenger cars. Last year Volvo considered installing a second battery factory for passenger cars in Ghent, but in december the company decided against this for unknown reasons.

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