News & updates

The Volvo Group, through Volvo Technology Transfer, jointly with KTH Chalmers Capital, is investing in Gothenburg-based Proxio AB. Proxio has developed the software solution Proxio Optimizer™ that assists buyers of transport services to enhance the efficiency of transport and logistics services, which in turn contributes to lower costs and reduced environmental impact. Proxio’s solution has shown it could reduce a company’s transport costs by at least 15% and fully implemented, Proxio Optimizer could contribute to annual cost savings of more than SEK 100 M for the Volvo Group.

Steeply rising oil prices and a strong focus on the climate have made fuel-saving hybrid technology particularly interesting. Volvo Trucks is now taking an important step towards commercialisation of this technology for heavy vehicles by launching two hybrid refuse trucks that will be tested in regular daily operations in Sweden by refuse collection firms Renova and Ragn-Sells.

The Swedish Energy Agency has granted AB Volvo SEK 12.8 M in support for field testing of the third-generation DME technology for heavy vehicles. The field tests with the 14 trucks is part of a project comprising demonstration of the entire technology chain, from biomass to fuel in the trucks and also includes distribution and tanking stations for DME. The first trucks are scheduled to be placed in traffic at the end of 2009.

After the Volvo Group’s notable showcasing of carbon-dioxide-neutral trucks in Stockholm and Brussels last year, it is now Washington, DC’s turn. In conjunction with the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC) arranged by the US State Department, the Volvo Group will later today present seven different trucks, all of which can be driven without any net contribution of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.

The Volvo Group is investing slightly more than SEK 330 M in a new concept for reducing emissions and improving quality in connection with the function testing of newly produced engines. Use of the new technology will reduce emissions by approximately 85 percent.

Volvo Trucks is, through Volvo Logistics, challenging its transporters to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent within the next two years. This challenge is yet another element in Volvo Trucks’ climate strategy which already aims at, among other things, carbon-neutral production, energy efficiency, alternative fuel technology and recycling.

Volvo Powertrain, the company responsible for developing and producing heavy engines, gearboxes and axles for the Volvo Group, has won the Swedish Foundry Association’s 2007 Energy Award. The foundry in Skövde was awarded for rationalisation initiatives leading to major energy savings.

Volvo Technology Transfer AB is a new part-owner in El-forest AB, based in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden, and is thereby investing in the development of energy efficient and environmentally sound forestry machinery. The investment is part of the Volvo Group’s striving to strengthen its role as a leading supplier to the forestry industry.

Today, one of the world’s most recognized scientists in the field of energy efficiency, Amory B. Lovins, was awarded Volvo’s Environment Prize 2007. “This prize is a fantastic recognition of our work at the Rocky Mountain Institute,” says Amory B. Lovins.

“It’s my hope that we can hand down decisions fast concerning funding for research in the motor vehicle industry.” These were the words of Sweden’s Minister for the Environment, Andreas Carlgren, when he visited the Volvo Group's head office recently.