The world number 2 in heavy goods vehicles, Volvo Group, will market its first trucks from carbon-free steel by next year, announced the Swedish manufacturer, claiming a world first to reduce its CO2 emissions.
Read also: Heavy goods vehicles: Volvo Group publishes net profit down 46% in 2020
Volvo has signed an agreement with its compatriot, the steelmaker SSAB, which is currently developing a technique to produce new steel without coal and without fossil fuels - in particular by using “
green
”
hydrogen
.
Volvo Group “
is committed to respecting the Paris climate agreement and to decarbonizing transport.
Part of this transformation is to start replacing the materials in our vehicles with non-fossil alternatives
, ”a spokesperson for the group, Claes Eliasson, told AFP on Friday.
Serial production in 2022
The Nordic giant plans to launch the first prototypes with SSAB steel this year, using hydrogen, before mass production on a "
small scale
" in 2022. "
Mass production will not be achieved for several years. years, depending on the quantities that steel suppliers such as SSAB can supply,
”explained Claes Eliasson.
SSAB announced in November 2019 its intention to be the first to introduce steel without fossil fuels on the market, starting in 2026. The steelmaker has developed, alongside the Swedish public mining group LKAB and the energy company Vattenfall , the "
HYBRIT
"
project
which aims to industrialize a steel production technology without CO2 emissions.
A pilot plant was inaugurated in August 2020 with the aim of eventually producing carbon-free steel, where the coal used for the production of ore-based steel is replaced by electricity and hydrogen without energy. fossils.
Reducing CO2 emissions from the steel industry is a major climate issue.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the iron and steel sector is the first in terms of CO2 emissions among heavy industries.
Read also: Volvo will be 100% electric by 2030, exclusively for sale online
With 2.6 billion tonnes of direct carbon dioxide emissions per year, that's 7% of the world's total energy-related emissions - and more than emissions from all road freight, according to the IEA.
