The first five of a total order of 45 Volvo FH Euro 5 truck-tractors have been handed over to DHL Supply Chain’s South African fleet. The balance of the units will be delivered by November this year.
All the FH Euro 5 units were assembled in Volvo Trucks’ local plant in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Volvo Trucks South Africa started assembly of Euro 5 specification trucks at its plant in October last year but the company’s Euro 5 variants have been available in South Africa since 2012.
“As part of our commitment to sustainability in this country, we are producing these vehicles locally even though Euro 5 is not a legal requirement here yet,” says Eric Parry, Sustainability Manager at Volvo Trucks SA. “The Euro 5 vehicles are an evolution in our mission towards a more sustainable future. More and more customers have ambitions to improve their environmental footprint, which is driving the uptake of Euro 5 models locally.”
Eon Engelbrecht, DHL Supply Chain’s Director of Transport Africa, said: “We’re super excited to receive our first five Euro 5 Volvo trucks. Not only are they helping provide employment by being produced locally but they will make our environment cleaner.”
Takalani Tshirame, Senior Manager of Product Support at Volvo Trucks South Africa says that the whole industry is shifting its focus to decreased fuel consumption and increased fleet efficiency, with a focus on more environmentally friendly technologies.
“Volvo Trucks uses SCR Technology and AdBlue in order to meet the requirements of Euro 5 and in general, the Euro 5 engines have a lower fuel consumption than an equivalent Euro 3 unit,” says Tshirame. “We also offer our customers specialised Euro 5 driver training, mainly to empower the drivers to operate their vehicles at its most efficient levels.”
He adds that while Volvo believes in the success of sustainable transport solutions, there is no silver bullet. “That is why Volvo is focused on three main strategic levers: Battery electric technology, fuel cell electric and combustions technology using low carbon fuels,” says Tshirame.”
Technical note: With SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) technology, nitrogen oxide emissions are reduced in the after-treatment process. In this process, a reductant – AdBlue – is injected into the exhaust gases before they pass on to a catalytic converter. In the catalytic converter, the AdBlue reacts with the nitrogen oxides which results in an effective reduction of the emissions. This is done by a transformation of the nitrogen oxides into nitrogen gas and steam.
