VOLVO Construction Equipment has announced a circa $6.3 million investment in electric wheel loader production at its plant in Arvika, Sweden.
The move will allow the site, which specialises in medium and large wheel loaders, to expand its facilities with a new building and enable the phased introduction of new electric models.
The investment marks the latest milestone in Volvo CE’s aims to be completely fossil free by 2040, and have 35% of its machines sold to be electric by 2030.
Site manager Mikael Liljestrand said, “This is a clear signal of our commitment to building the world we want to live in. It is more than 40 years since we last invested in a new building and what better reason now than to invest in our future, our planet and the next generation. We know that this is not only important to our customers and stakeholders, who rightly have high expectations on us, but it is also close to our hearts to be part of something bigger in building our future.”
Volvo CE has already introduced compact electric wheel loaders to the market with the L20 Electric and L25 Electric.
Arvika will erect a new building, approximately 1,500 sqm, which will free up areas inside its assembly factory to build electric wheel loaders. Volvo added that while it has not yet been announced which models will begin their electric transformation, production of both electric wheel loaders and more traditional wheel loaders fitted with combustion engines will continue for now on the same production line.
The manufacturer explained it will ensure a phased introduction model by model, taking into account all aspects of the electric ecosystem as it does so, including infrastructure requirements, charging solutions, battery handling and business models.
Building work is set to begin later this year, with further announcements on when production will begin to come.
