Volvo Trucks North America has introduced a new electromobility total cost of ownership (TCO) tool to support customers to make fact-based decisions about the business impact of purchasing and operating zero-tailpipe emission battery electric trucks, the company announced during a press conference at the ATA Management Conference and Exhibition earlier this week. The TCO tool, now available for Volvo Trucks Certified Electric Vehicle (EV) Dealerships throughout North America, is part of Volvo Trucks’ concierge approach to electromobility, which includes helping customers implement solutions that achieve both economic and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals.
“When evaluating the investment of deploying a truck into your fleet, the purchase price is only one factor. While battery-electric trucks currently require a higher up-front purchasing investment than traditional diesel trucks, customers can benefit from available funding and incentive programs. Additionally, electric trucks eliminate many of the standard maintenance requirements compared to diesel trucks and offer managed charging costs, and the ability to make meaningful progress toward sustainability goals,” said Peter Voorhoeve, president, Volvo Trucks North America. “Our electromobility TCO tool helps customers to understand and evaluate the full impact of their fleet purchasing decisions.”
Evaluating the TCO of operating a commercial vehicle requires the consideration of multiple fixed and variable costs throughout the vehicle’s lifetime, including purchase price, maintenance, fueling, funding, tax credits, and other factors. Through the TCO tool, prospective electric adopters can see the bigger picture, allowing for better long-term purchasing decisions that help promote the decision to transition to zero-tailpipe emission transportation solutions. When all these factors are evaluated, the TCO tool provides fleets with a transparent projection and comparison of the lifetime cost between battery-electric trucks and their diesel counterparts — including costs for repairs and maintenance, the current price of diesel fuel and electricity, and the estimated cost to purchase and install fueling or charging infrastructure.
Through its many proprietary features, the tool shows customers how local, state, and federal incentives on trucks and charging infrastructure can impact the long-term TCO. In areas such as California, where significant funding and incentives are available for zero-tailpipe emission vehicles, the purchase of a battery-electric truck can be even more beneficial to customers due to reduced upfront purchasing costs.
The TCO tool is utilized by the sales teams at Volvo Trucks Certified EV Dealerships to ensure that customers are professionally guided through the decision-making process for investing and transitioning towards electromobility solution. With a diverse set of tools, including TCO, route-planning, and connected technology tools, it will be much more robust for customers to evaluate the necessary information before starting the electromobility journey. By leveraging the details about each fleet’s operations, the TCO tool will also show customers the projected potential CO2 reductions that can be achieved by adopting Volvo VNR Electric trucks.
