Volvo looks to clean up construction with electric concrete mixer truck

As part of a partnership agreement inked in 2021, construction materials company Cemex has taken delivery of the first all-electric heavy duty concrete mixer truck from Volvo Trucks, which is due to begin operation in Berlin this month.

Volvo launched its first all-electric trucks back in 2018, and is aiming for half of its total sales to be electric by 2030 on the way to an entirely "fossil-free" product range by 2040. The company currently offers a range of electric refuse, haulage and construction trucks operating at a total weight of between 16 and 44 tons.

On the heavy machinery front, we've seen load carrier and an excavator being tested at a quarry, its FE Electric truck set to work in France along with a compact excavator, with the latter subsequently being made available in the US together with a wheel loader.

The electric concrete mixer is based on the company's FMX Electric line, which was introduced in 2021 (though a pilot program the year before did see Scandinavian company Swerock with an electric concrete mixer based on Volvo's FM model make deliveries to customers in the Gothenburg area).

The 4,100-mm-wheelbase vehicle features a 360-kWh battery bank for the promise of completing "a full day's work with a single top-up charge during the regular break." The hydraulic mixer body is reported to get its juice from a traction battery. The truck comes with two electric motors for 330 kW (450 hp) continuous total power, and runs an I-Shift automated gearbox (where an electronic control unit manages the clutch and shifts).

"Both our companies have committed to ambitious sustainability targets and collaboration is the way to get there," said Roger Alm, president of Volvo Trucks. "Together we will work to implement CO2-neutral transport in the construction industry. Our electric trucks are zero emissions and their silent operation also provides a better environment for people working at construction sites, as well as for residents living in the city"

The FMX electric concrete mixer truck is expected to go into service at a ready-mix concrete plant in the Spandau area of Berlin later this month.

Source: Volvo Trucks