Volvo CE Inaugurates Driveline Electromobility Testing Facility in Sweden
Volvo Construction Equipment has inaugurated its new driveline test facility in Eskilstuna, Sweden. The new building is home to several test rigs that will test both electric and conventional drivelines and components. One of the test rigs, which allows all a machine’s wheels to be controlled and measured independently, enabling the entire electromobility driveline to be tested in a modular way, is thought to be the first of its kind in the industry, Volvo said.
“This test facility will support Volvo on its journey towards electromobility,” said Peter Osterberg, vice president of Core Technologies at Volvo CE. “Without it, we wouldn’t be able to move forward and test concepts like our HX2 autonomous, battery-electric load carrier, and the LX1 electric hybrid wheel loader. This equipment will allow us to test important factors and see how a driveline, transmission, components, etc., work in different situations. This investment shows that Volvo CE is not only committed to electromobility, but that we are also committed to Eskilstuna, and our employees. The new facilities will help build the knowledge and components of our engineers. They will further reinforce Eskilstuna’s position as an engineering center of excellence for driveline development.”
Test in the new 4,400-square-meter building will be starting immediately. The first projects to enter the facility will be connected to electromobility and transmissions. Although it has been designed to test drivelines in wheel loaders and articulated haulers, electromobility components from other machines could also be tested at the site, along with truck axles.
“It’s a unique facility that will benefit many areas of the Volvo business,” added Osterberg. “Volvo CE is at the forefront of the technological shift when it comes to electromobility in our industry.”
The new building was officially inaugurated and unveiled to hundreds of employees on March 21.
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.