Volvo Trucks has now sold more than 4300 electric trucks globally in more than 38 countries since 2019, when production of these units commenced. Volvo Trucks recently announced that it will start delivering heavy electric trucks to its customers in South Africa from May 2023.
Although the tractor was not pulling any trailer, it still quite impressive to see it do the 600 km trip and only needing one stop for charging. There are now several fast charging stations along South Africa’s major highways, including on this Durban-to-Johannesburg route, operated by companies such as GridCars.
So still a snail’s pace in South Africa for EVs in general, but it is good to see awareness growing, and despite the worst electricity load shedding (controlled blackouts) in the world, EVs are quite possible to operate. Checkers retail chain recently also started using a number of heavy-duty electric trucks in urban areas.