Trucks
Trucks
Steel accounts for 47% of a typical heavy-duty diesel truck and represents around 44% of the CO2 emitted from its production. But what if all this steel could be replaced with a low-CO2 emission alternative?
In 2025, Volvo Trucks will begin incorporating low-CO2 emission steel in its commercial production in a much larger scale. This marks a significant step forward in its objective to achieve a net-zero supply chain by 2040.
The new low-CO2 emission steel is produced by using recycled material and renewable energy in production, which reduces emissions by around 80% compared to conventional steel.
From next year, the new low-CO2 emission steel will be used to make the frame rails in around 12,000 Volvo FH and Volvo FM trucks, saving an estimated 6,600 tonnes of CO2. This is the equivalent to the expected annual CO2 emissions from 910 European citizens.
If Volvo Trucks is to meet its climate ambitions, including a net-zero supply chain, then a low-CO2 emission alternative to conventional steel is essential.
“Since steel is the largest structural material in the truck, and the most climate-intensive to produce, being able to implement a low-CO2 emission alternative into serial production is really important for meeting our climate ambitions,” says Håkan Björklund, Product Architect, Volvo Trucks.
In 2022, Volvo Trucks became the first manufacturer in the world to use fossil free steel. That steel was produced using a new technology, which uses hydrogen instead of coal in the iron ore reduction process, effectively eliminating CO2 emissions. However, the technology is still under development and not commercially available in large quantities yet. In the meantime, Volvo Trucks is exploring ways it can use recycled steel to reduce the carbon footprint of its trucks today.
Now that we know the low-CO2 emission steel better, the next step is to replace the steel in different sections of the truck. And that roadmap is already in the pipeline.
Before it could incorporate the new low-CO2 emission steel into its production, Volvo Trucks had to test and verify its quality. “From a technology side, we needed to understand the steel better,” explains Harsha Ar, Lead Engineer, Volvo Trucks. “Due to its recycled content, there have been some differences in its properties. And then we had to ensure it passed all our internal verifications for durability and surface treatment and performed as well as conventional steel. Only then did we decide to implement it into our production.”
As a newly developed product, volumes of the new steel are still relatively low. However, as the supplier scales up production of all steel grades, Volvo Trucks hopes to utilize more of it to replace its consumption of conventional steel.
“Our strategy was to start with one steel at one thickness as a pilot, but the plan has always been to scale-up provided the outcome was successful,” says Harsha. “Now that we know the steel better and it’s been verified, the next step is to apply it to different steel grades and thicknesses and replace the steel in different sections of the truck. And that plan is already in the pipeline.”
The success of low-CO2 emission steel removes one of the biggest hurdles on the path towards producing a heavy-duty truck with net-zero emissions. With its implementation, Volvo Trucks takes an important step forward in fulfilling its climate objective.
In 2025, the new low emission steel will be used to make the frame rails in around 12,000 Volvo FH and Volvo FM trucks.
