Both companies will be making Class 8 electric trucks using fuel cell drive systems developed by Japanese firm Toyota, with Kenworth aiming to begin customer deliveries next year.

The new heavy-duty truck range is the first new product line to be developed jointly since Isuzu completed its USD2.2bn acquisition of UD Trucks from Volvo Trucks in April 2021.

The VW Meteor, which replaced the TGX MAN truck model, was introduced to Brazil in September 2020.

The Joint Electric Truck Scaling Initiative (JETSI), first launched in 2021, plans to put over a hundred electric trucks on the road and 35 chargers at two sites in order to trial them in real operations at scale. 

The Kässbohrer-bodied truck, with a combination weight reaching up to 42 tons when fully laden with eight cars, is powered by a 230-kWh battery.

Following validation tests, Scania and Northvolt confirmed that the cells have the capacity to propel trucks up to 1.5 million kilometres over their lifetime. 

Four prototype trucks were tested for their overall energy management, the cooling and thermal management of the batteries, and the effect of temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius on powertrain components and charging.

Over the next three and a half years, the project’s research partners will deliver nine different vehicles for testing on the road, carrying over 40 tonnes across distances of up to 750 kilometres.

DAF Trucks Ltd has entered the UK’s Capital Cities Challenge EV Rally, showcasing its 19-tonne LF Electric truck across a five-day 1000-mile driving event, designed to test both the vehicle as well as the necessary charging infrastructure that will be utilised.

UD Trucks working with autonomous driving system software and hardware provider and integrator, Finland’s Sensible 4 Oy.

Two ‘FH Electric’ trucks will be trialled in the Kankberg mine near Skellefteå, transporting rock bolts and other equipment as well as rock and ore.

Special drive modes, including off-road, manual, paver, split-shaft and rocking modes, and multiple PTO options have all been designed with rugged vocational applications in mind.