High-horsepower engines burning synthetic diesel fuel will have definite role in future zero-emission trucking solutions, according to Lars Stenqvist, chief technology officer for the Volvo Group.
Photo: Jack Roberts
Volvo has a long history of environmental awareness. That history fits in well with its current determination to drive the global trucking industry to a net zero future by 2050. So it might surprise you to learn that the Swedish truck maker’s chief technology officer is not only a fan of the internal combustion engine, but also is convinced that ICE technology will remain an integral propulsion technology for fleets for many decades to come.
Lars Stenqvist is in charge of 10,000 Volvo Group engineers worldwide. His team develops new trucks and technology for Volvo, Mack and Renault trucks. All told, Stenqvist is in charge of 15,000 Volvo employees and a $2.7 billion research and development budget.
And Stenqvist is big on the internal combustion engine.
‘Technology the Planet Can Cope With’
From his headquarters on the Volvo campus in Gothenburg, Sweden, Stenqvist oversees Volvo’s massive investments in a high-tech future — everything from new propulsion systems to software. His team uses something Volvo calls CAST — common architecture and shared technology — to create new products, components and systems that will go into service worldwide.
“I want my solutions to be used across the Volvo Group,” Stenqvist said. “New technology that can be used in yellow construction machines, buses and all three truck brands. That is the mindset I want all my engineers to have. This is the recipe we have used for decades and it has served us very well.”
The key, Stenqvist said, is that Volvo engineers develop components that easily integrate into other platforms. Several years ago, Volvo began to electrify buses. Under the CAST mindset, engineers made sure those components could easily be integrated into construction machines or trucks.
“A few years later, we saw the business opportunity to reuse those BEV components from buses on trucks and construction machines,” he notes. “And that is why we are pioneers in battery-electric trucks today.”
Future Trucks Should be Safe, Fossil-Free, and Productive
The trucking industry is going through a massive transformation, and Stenqvist believes that virtually everything on the planet is connected to that change.
“At Volvo, we firmly believe the world needs more transportation,” he said. “But we cannot just use the solutions we build today. We need technology the planet can cope with.”
For Stenqvist, that vision of future trucks means ones that are 100% safe, 100% fossil free, and 100% more productive for their users.
He understands the popularity of internal combustion engines. The technology is over a century old and very familiar to fleets worldwide. But Volvo did a global study of ICE technology in 2020 and concluded that there are just not enough biofuel and renewable fuel options available to decarbonize trucking today.
As a result, his team turned to a strategy of making the majority of trucks on the road either battery-electric or hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2040.
“But I want to be super clear: We believe in a long life and a long future for ICEs,” he added. “And we believe that all three of those technologies will be developed and used in parallel by fleets in the future.”
That means Stenqvist’s engineering team must now master three different propulsion technologies. Two of those are brand-new that “came out of the blue” without any prior experience for his team to learn from.
But at the same time, this year, Volvo will invest more money than ever before in ICE technology connected to meeting the just-finalized U.S. EPA 2027 emissions regulations.
Lars Stenqvist, chief technolgy officer, the Volvo Group, details the company’s multi-pronged approach to zero-emission transport during a press briefing in Lundby, Sweden, on April 9, 2024.
Photo: Jack Roberts
Trucking’s Road to Net-Zero Emissions: Many Societies, Many Solutions
Five years down trucking’s road to net zero, Stenquist said that Volvo engineers are “less sure and more humble” about the way the technologies they’ve developed will be employed.
“How and where these zero-emission powertrains are used will not be decided by engineers,” he said. “Those issues will be decided by society. And there will be different solutions in different applications and in different countries.”
Stenqvist noted that many countries and regions are currently struggling with electric infrastructure. Green hydrogen infrastructure is even farther behind.
“That is why we think we need to develop all of these technologies in parallel,” he explained. “Because in one region, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles might work best. And in another region, battery-electric trucks may provide the best solution.”
And, he added, diesel will still play an important role in heavy-haul applications that are not as price-sensitive as others.
“In those situations, our new 17-liter engine running on synthetic diesel will be a very attractive option,” he said.
Working With Regulators and Politicians on Truck Emissions Regulations
Of course, the drawbacks to any use of diesel fuel in the future — even synthetic diesel fuel — is that combustion creates NOx emissions.
“That is why we must have a good dialogue with politicians and educate them on the drawbacks and benefits of these technologies,” Stenqvist said. “Far too many politicians are trigger-happy. They want to ban technologies instead of telling us what they want us to achieve.”
While California gets all the headlines in the U.S., in Europe it is the U.K. that is talking about banning ICEs, thanks to well-meaning, but overzealous and ill-informed politicians, Stendqvist said.
“I don’t think that will stand,” he said. “ICEs running on hydrogen can be a very good solution for future trucking applications. We need to have broader technology palettes to explore all of these solutions and offer our customers the best solutions for the jobs they need to do.”
Investing in Sustainability Beyond Truck Manufacturing
And Volvo is already doing those things.
“We need to take control of different parts of the value chain,” he said. “We need to understand that while battery-electric trucks are great, producing batteries today is far from a ‘green’ activity.”
That is why Volvo has been so proactive in stepping into what called “vertical” businesses to round out and complement the powertrain technologies the OEM is developing. Prime examples include:
- Volvo’s acquisition of battery developer and producer Proterra.
- A massive new battery plant in Mariestad, Sweden.
- Volvo’s new joint venture with Westport to develop new ICE technologies for heavy trucks.
There is still a long way to go on the road to net zero. But, according to Lars Stenqvist, all options are on the table at Volvo. And new solutions are constantly being worked on and developed for fleets all over the globe.
