Volvo Trucks has scooped a prestigious industry award for its Volvo FH Electric, with the model becoming the first-ever electric truck to be named International Truck of the Year.
In explaining their decision, the jury praised the electric truck’s performance, seamless acceleration, quietness, and vibration-free behaviour.
“With the introduction of the FH Electric, Volvo Trucks has delivered a state-of-the-art battery electric vehicle range, suitable for a wide array of transport operations. It’s proof that the energy transition is gaining strength even in today’s challenging business environment,” stated Gianenrico Griffini, Chairman, International Truck of the Year.
Roger Alm, President of Volvo Trucks, accepted the prestigious award during the prize ceremony at the Solutrans Transport Exhibition in Lyon, France.
“I am very proud that our Volvo FH Electric has won this highly respected award. For the first time in history, the transport industry has chosen an electric vehicle as Truck of the Year. The Volvo FH Electric represents a new era in trucking and winning this award clearly shows that the shift to zero emission transport is happening here and now,” commented Alm.
“I sincerely want to thank everyone who has contributed to this success. It’s based on great teamwork among our colleagues within the Volvo Group, and close cooperation with our valued customers, partners and suppliers.”
This is the fourth time that Volvo’s iconic FH model has been named International Truck of the Year. The Volvo FH is one of the industry’s most successful models of all time with nearly 1.4 million trucks sold all over the world.
The Volvo FH Electric can operate up to 44 tonnes. Production of the truck started in 2022 in Volvo’s factory in Gothenburg, Sweden, expanding to its factory in Ghent, Belgium in 2023.
Volvo Trucks was the first global manufacturer to start series production of electric trucks in 2019, and today it has a broad electric line-up with a total of six electric trucks designed to handle a wide variety of transport assignments.
The International Truck of the Year organisation was launched in 1977 and is made up of 24 commercial vehicle journalists from major trucking magazines throughout the UK and Europe. The annual award is given to the truck introduced in the market in the previous 12 months that has made the most significant contribution to road transport efficiency. Several key criteria are evaluated, including technological innovation, comfort, safety, driveability, energy efficiency, environmental ‘footprint’, and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
