Volvo CE Not Letting up on Electric

Melker Jernberg admits that wider spread adoption of battery-electric machines has been lackluster but still believes the EV transformation is inevitable.

August 1, 2025

Ryan Gehm

Volvo Construction Equipment made a big statement at Bauma 2025 by displaying an all-EV lineup and revealing a new electric articulated hauler to boot. The company has come a long way since the 2019 event when it unveiled its first two commercial electric machines, said Melker Jernberg, president of Volvo CE. “Today we are leaders in many different segments when it comes to electrification,” he said.

Volvo CE’s all-electric display at Bauma 2025 included the reveal of a claimed “world first” EV, the A30 electric articulated hauler. (SAE/Ryan Gehm)

Jernberg helped to drop the curtain on a claimed “world first” EV, the A30 electric articulated hauler. Five “cubes” of 600V Li-ion batteries provide 270 kWh of usable energy (450 kWh installed) and a runtime of 4 to 4.5 hours. A 350-kW charger can charge the machine to between 20-80% in one hour. Delivery of A30 and A40 electric haulers will start in Europe in 2026 for selected customers, “then we’ll ramp up for all other markets in 2027 and 2028,” he said.

Jernberg answered questions about Volvo CE’s electrification and product strategy during a Bauma press conference.

When we look at the industry going forward, do you see a single solution – battery-electric is the only way to go?

The answer is clearly no. The transformation [to battery electric] is underway. Unfortunately, slower than expected, slower than needed, slower than wanted. We have decided that we need to continue to lead the way when it comes to sustainable solutions for transport, for construction, for infrastructure, etcetera. To make that happen, we need different technology solutions.

Can you characterize the EV market and tell us where adoption is and where you want it to be?

Melker Jernberg, president of Volvo CE, says that there will be certain segments and applications where hydrogen fuel cells are better suited than battery electric. (SAE/Ryan Gehm)

If you take this over a longer time, this will be a bump in the road, I’m quite sure about that. We have so many use cases where it’s not only about the CO2 [emissions] – this is a fantastic business case. If you do the TCO calculation, you will not buy that diesel version in many cases...But it depends on the electricity, too. As well as the technology it’s also that we need to start to put demand on green electricity. But this [shift to electric] will happen because it’s much better.

What about customers who aren’t ready to go electric?

Not yet, maybe. We are quite sure that internal combustion engines will continue to play an extremely big role in our industry. And that’s the reason why we continue to invest heavily in that technology. We have done so over the years, and we have proven over and over again how much efficiency we can gain in the ICE. Also to optimize the combustion engine of course for renewable fuels, biodiesel, HVO, etcetera.

How about hydrogen fuel cells?

Hydrogen fuel cells in the construction industry – will it play a role or not? I’m quite sure it will. There will be segments, [certain] applications where that will be a better solution than battery electric. But I think it’s also fair to say, given the infrastructure and maturity, we are focusing more short-term on the battery-electric solutions.

When it comes to product, what can customers expect? Any new launches that are noteworthy?

2024 and 2025, that has been our biggest launch years ever. We’re talking about 80 new models – that’s one-third of our entire portfolio. We’re launching a totally new range of excavators, a new range of articulated haulers, some new rigid haulers, and on top of that a number of battery-electric [machines] of different size classes. We are investing a lot in both the product and the services. I must say I’m extremely proud of what the team has achieved when it comes to fuel efficiency and productivity also on the diesel machines. The new hauler is [around] 15% better when it comes to fuel efficiency.

Delivery of A30 and A40 electric haulers will start in Europe in 2026 for selected customers, followed by other markets in 2027 and 2028. (SAE/Ryan Gehm)

How do you help customers gain peace of mind to invest in new technologies?

There’s always some kind of risk when starting to invest in new technologies – from a customer perspective, CapEx, OpEx, procedural risk and all these kinds of things. We have a service, Volvo Financial Services, that helps a lot in these discussions to derisk and help the customers.

There are also other ways of doing business, especially when it comes to new technologies. We work with short- and long-term rental [companies], but we also now globally have been quite successful with many customers with what we call Equipment as a Service (EaaS), which is a pay-per-use model. Not perfect for everyone but for many it’s a win-win-win situation, because it’s guaranteed uptime with lower risk but with really good products.