Automaker Volvo has unveiled seven trucks that the company sees as the future for long-haul transportation in the country.
This story in Land Line Magazine says Volvo officials debuted the trucks at the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference in Washington, DC:
The trucks, powered by everything from biodiesel and ethanol to biogas and hydrogen, are touted by the company as being carbon dioxide neutral. That means they don’t add any carbon dioxide to the air through the combustion process.
A number of concerns, including skyrocketing fuel prices, the realization that fossil fuels won’t be around forever, and climate change prompted Volvo officials to prove that trucks could be run on virtually any type of renewable fuel.
Volvo Group CEO Leif Johannson said by building trucks that can run on alternative and renewable fuels, Volvo addresses uncertainty that political leaders may have as they move forward on policies that will reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
“I used to say we could run a truck on anything, even vanilla sauce,” Johannson said with a laugh during a roundtable discussion following the unveiling. “We can’t do that, but that’s about the only thing.”
The trucks run on biodiesel, synthetic diesel, methanol/ethanol, dimenthyether, biogas, and hydrogen (some of them even run on a combination of different fuels).
Volvo officials want to make sure they are prepared… no matter what the alternative fuel of choice will be.