The future development in the transport sector is going in the wrong direction or not developing at all. If you want to do something about the situation that exists today, and especially in view of the future, it is necessary to severely limit the medium- and long-distance transports by trucks. The radical thing would be to ban transport by truck longer than 20 - 25 miles. The longer transports would be transferred to rail transport, not least in view of the current and future environmental impact that the trucks negatively contribute to. But in order to implement such a radical decision, it is necessary that there are politicians with the courage and knowledge to implement the measures. Are they available in Sweden? No, they all go hand in hand and are strongly influenced by FFI (Vehicle Technical Development and Innovation).

The electric truck Volvo VNR Electric is available in the US and in various designs.

It seems to be the American market that develops first for Volvo. The first generation Volvo VNR Electric had a range of up to 240 km. An improved version of the electric truck in class 8* is now being launched with a range of up to 440 km and an increased energy storage of up to 565 kWh. The improved performance is due, among other things, to smarter battery design and a new battery pack with six batteries.

The new Volvo VNR Electric has a considerably shorter charging time. With a charging capacity of 250 kW, a truck with six batteries is charged to 80% in 90 minutes, a truck with four batteries reaches the same charge level in only 60 minutes. The vehicle has a gross weight of 15 tons or more! It is safe to assume that the gross weight of the towing vehicle is between 15 and 20 tons. Then one must calculate the trailer's own net weight of perhaps 4 - 6 tonnes. The entire crew gross weight is 80,000 lbs and converted to 37.2 tons. There is around 37.2 - 24 tons left as paid cargo, i.e. only 13.2 tons left.

If you choose the lower version of batteries, you must charge the truck for 60 minutes to be able to continue. The maximum speed for this truck is 68 miles per hour, but there is reason to expect 55 miles which is 90 km/h. The truck can operate for approx. 440 km.

Not only that, now the vehicle length must be increased to 34.5 metres, completely idiotic.
The new rules mean that trucks as long as 34.5 meters will be allowed on certain designated roads, compared to the current maximum length of 25.25 meters. The trucks must be driven at a maximum of 80 km/h on the designated roads. According to the Swedish Transport Administration's calculations, the measure to allow longer trucks can reduce carbon dioxide emissions from heavy vehicles by 4-6 percent. There will also of course be heavier vehicles that will destroy the road network.

Has the Swedish Transport Administration done any comparative studies on how much carbon dioxide emissions would have been reduced if the transports had instead taken place by rail? That is considerably higher than the 4-6% that is being talked about here. Our politicians would put their foot down and simply ban medium and long-distance transport by trucks over 20 - 25 miles. Expand the railway and we would save both a lot of carbon dioxide emissions and energy consumption.

Must be compared with transport by train

Freight transport must be compared with transport by rail, where you have completely different opportunities to transport in significantly higher capacities and largely at the same speeds. There is also no need to interrupt for charging batteries. If you look at the transports as a layman, there is no doubt that the future transports, the medium and long hauls, will be carried out by rail.

You can find a comparison between electric trucks and the railway on the page, electric trucks or trains. (Link).

Retrieved from Green Cargo's website:
Two climate-smart examples
A typical intermodal route is between Malmö Kombiterminal to Norrköping Kombiterminal and the distance is approx. 450 km by truck and 560 km by train.

Example 1:
A truck transport between Malmö and Norrköping emits 730 kg of carbon dioxide. That equates to 1,200 train journeys with an average Green Cargo train carrying roughly 500 tonnes of freight.

Example 2:
A train transport on an electrified railway between Malmö and Norrköping emits carbon dioxide equivalent to the weight of half a packet of milk. If the equivalent amount of goods were to be transported by truck on the same route, the truck transport would emit approximately 20 tons of carbon dioxide.