Renault Trucks electrifies its in-house logistics

French truck manufacturer Renault is electrifying its in-house logistics flows with its own electric trucks. The first stage of this project will focus on electrifying the axle transport between its two production sites in Lyon and Bourg-en-Bresse.

This electrification of logistics will allow 440,000 kilometers to be driven by e-vehicles, saving 375 tons of CO2 every year. With the project, Renault Trucks applies the solutions they offer their customers.

Five Renault E-Tech T trucks

Renault has decided to switch to Renault Trucks E-Tech T 4×2 tractors to supply both production sites. Two partner haulers—Dupessey & Co and Transports Chazot—will use five Renault E-Tech T vehicles to drive the 450,000 km each year between the two sites.

The five electric trucks, each loaded with 22 tons of equipment, will make two round trips a day (360 km) to deliver the axles manufactured at the Lyon site to the Bourg-en-Bresse plant, where the heavy-duty trucks are assembled.

‘Range Simulator’

The trucks will require an interim charge of 45 to 50 minutes once a day at the Lyon site, where a charging station has been set up specifically for this purpose. The vehicles will also be charged every evening at the depots of the two haulers.

Before electrifying its logistics flows, the feasibility of the project needed to be studied. Renault Trucks, therefore, used ‘Range Simulator’, the same software they propose to customers.

Interim charges

The software calculates when, where, and for how long charging is required based on four main parameters: the truck’s use, its load and equipment, the outside temperature, and the topography.

Once this analysis was completed, the required positioning of the charging facilities was established. As a result, two 360 KW terminals, each with two charge points, have been installed at the Saint-Priest site to manage the interim charges for the various trucks in optimal conditions.

Other electrification projects to follow

“The launch of this project is a further illustration of our expertise in decarbonising mobility,” explained Bruno Blin, President of Renault Trucks. […] “Our target for 2030 is to electrify our logistics on a huge scale, with all flows between our production sites using electric vehicles.”

Renault Trucks is currently working on the electrification of around a dozen other logistics flows, due to be operational in the months and years to come.

Coca Cola

In November 2022, Renault Trucks and Coca-Cola’s Belgian-Luxembourg branch Europacific Partners (CCEP) presented to the press the four first fully electric delivery trucks of a total fleet of thirty. At that time, the Renault Trucks E-tech Wide had a capacity of 200 kWh or 265 kWh, providing an average range of 180 km in distribution.

Renault Trucks recently delivered three Renault Trucks E-Tech D Wide to the Chilean transport company Trailer Logistics, its first electric offering outside of Europe.