Expanded facilities at Volvo CE’s campus in Arvika, Sweden, will free up space to produce electric wheel loaders. The 16,000-square-foot building was constructed in less than a year and will serve as an “after flow facility,” where nearly finished wheel loaders will go for the final stages of production and new units can be tested.
The Arvika plant manufactures Volvo CE’s medium and large wheel loader lines, including the Volvo L110, which the Swedish Prince Carl Philip test-drove at the facility’s opening ceremony. Volvo CE also manufactures electric equipment at its plants in Konz, Germany; Belley, France; and Changwon, South Korea.
The expansion is part of a $6.3 million investment in the plant Volvo CE had announced in January 2023.
Volvo CE said the factory expansion represents the next step in the company’s goal “to be entirely fossil free by 2040 and achieve 35% electric machine sales by 2030.” In recent years, the Arvika campus has already moved to reduce its internal climate footprint by 350 tons of CO2.
“This new facility is an inspiration for a future built on sustainable solutions,” said Melker Jernberg, head of Volvo CE. “We are proud to be at the forefront of industry change with large-scale investments, not just here in Arvika but around the globe, that support a transformation towards electrification. Together, we are moving closer towards fossil-free machines.”
Recent electric equipment launches and announcements from Volvo CE include the L120 wheel loader, the EC230 crawler excavator and the DD25 asphalt compactor.
Though total numbers remain a small portion of overall results, Volvo CE reported notable increases in the number of orders and deliveries for fully electric equipment in its second quarter earnings report vs. last year’s second quarter.
Total orders in the second quarter were for 537 machines (up 162% year-over-year) and Volvo delivered 569 fully electric machines (up 150%).
Looking at the first 6 months of the year, Volvo CE took orders for 736 fully electric machines (up 59%) and delivered 801 (an 86% increase).
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