Energy, Environment Critical Issues for Trucking, Volvo CEO Persson Says
This story appears in the April 6 print edition of Transport Topics.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Energy and the environment remain issues of great importance for trucking, in terms of the types of fuels consumed and the resulting laws and regulations, the CEO of Volvo Group said.
Olof Persson, Volvo’s CEO since 2011, spoke here March 27, addressing the Heavy Duty Manufacturers Association during the Mid-America Trucking Show.
Persson said that “$45 per barrel won’t last forever,” so the need for natural gas and dimethyl ether will not disappear. Natural gas plays an important role now, he said, and DME remains one of Volvo’s favorite issues over the long term.
“It could really be a game-changer,” he said.
Switching to the regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions by trucks, Persson reiterated his company’s long-standing position that federal regulators should set complete-vehicle standards.
“There are no loose engines pulling freight down the highways,” Persson quipped. More seriously, he said engineers prefer to look at a system as a whole to see how it can be improved.
Forcing a focus on just engines could end up being counterproductive, he warned.
Persson also took a swipe at glider kits that are used to modify older trucks into a useful second life.
“Their effect is to allow older, dirtier engines to remain in new trucks. I find it curious they are so broadly permitted,” Persson said, adding that Volvo companies will not participate in such a market.
In general, Persson was a happy executive addressing a happy group of his suppliers. While the European truck market is “flat-ish” and South America has slow economic growth, North America remains genuinely strong, Persson said.
“Our immediate challenge is managing near-record volumes, a challenge we’d all like to have,” he said.
Asked whether rearview cameras might be superior to the mirrors that are standard today, he replied, “You run into a lot of legislative issues you need to address.”
Government issues also will play a significant role if there really are to be autonomous
cars and trucks, he said.
Persson said he understands the importance of sustainable business operations — economic, environmental and societal — but he would like to see old and poorly maintained infrastructure im-proved, and he said regulators and legislators need to catch up to the pace of technological change.
Based in Gothenburg, Sweden, Volvo Group has four manufacturing divisions, and trucks is the largest. Truck making generated two-thirds of the company’s
$38 billion in sales last year.
Volvo Trucks and Mack Trucks are the company’s major North American brands.
The other three divisions are construction equipment, buses and Volvo Penta, a manufacturer of marine and specialty engines.
Persson said his company has 2,550 suppliers worldwide and that it spends about $3.2 billion a year in North America.
In discussing truck engines, Persson said he thinks they can get smaller and more powerful. He said an 11-liter engine with 505 horsepower is plausible.
Volvo’s current 11-liter engine has a horsepower range of 355 to 405 hp. To get 500 hp now, that would be found in the middle of the horsepower range of a Cummins ISX15.
Persson dismissed the adage that “there is no replacement for [engine] displacement. Actually, there is a replacement for displacement. It’s called innovation.”
In August, Persson was appointed co-chairman of a United Nations panel by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The 12-member committee is
an advisory group on sustain-able transportation.
Persson joined Volvo in 2006 and was president of the company’s construction division and its former aeronautics division before becoming CEO.
Also at the event, Tim Myers, president of Alcoa Wheel and Transportation Products, officially succeeded Pat Cavanagh, CEO of Enovation Controls, as chairman of HDMA.
