The first electric truck built in the Volvo Trucks Ghent plant in Belgium rolled off the assembly line on Wednesday. Katoen Natie is the first Belgian client to use this Volvo FH Electric, while the assembly line will get up to speed after the summer break.

Volvo has been building electric trucks in its Tuve factory in Gothenburg, Sweden, for a few years now, with most of the range having an electric option. Now, the Belgian plant in Ghent has started producing electric trucks with an FH Electric destined for logistics powerhouse Katoen Natie in the port of Antwerp.

With a 300 km range, this specific truck will be used for servicing its client Atlas Copco Airpower, but Katoen Natie has signed a letter of intent to purchase 20 more e-trucks from Volvo. Flemish Minister for Mobility Lydia Peeters (Open Vld) and Ghent Mayor Mathias De Clercq (Open Vld) were present at the press event for this premiere.

Expanding for electric

The Ghent factory is also preparing to scale up its electric production in Ghent. A new battery plant is coming in 2025, while a logistics warehouse is also being built to stock the necessary parts. This should create over 100 extra jobs for the region.

The electric trucks are being built on the same assembly line as their combustion-powered counterparts, with hydrogen trucks sharing the same lines in the future. Ghent will play a significant role in the group’s electrification, including battery manufacturing.

Battery packs for Sweden

In Ghent, where Volvo Trucks employs some 3 000 people today, battery packs are already assembled since 2022 for the electric trucks made in Sweden. The cells come from Samsung SDI in South Korea for now, but in the future, Volvo Trucks plans to start its own cell production in Skövde (Sweden), where it is to build a dedicated factory that should be fully operational by 2025.

By 2030, more than half of the 50 000 trucks built in Ghent will be battery-electric (BET). Electric and hydrogen trucks will be mixed on the same production lines as diesel trucks.