The International Truck of the Year for 2024 has been awarded by a jury of 24 commercial vehicle editors and senior journalists representing 24 major trucking magazines, as the electric Volvo wins a major prize.
Volvo Trucks’s FH Electric range has been elected as the IToY 2024 and Roger Alm, President of Volvo Trucks, was presented with the prestigious award during the press day at Solutrans, the biennial trade fair for haulage and urban transport professionals, in Lyon, France.
With a winning score of 84 votes, the Swedish truck manufacturer’s heavy-duty electric range fought off tough challenges from Mercedes-Benz’s eActros 300/400, equipped with an electric driveline, and the Scania’s 45S battery electric truck (BEV).
Based on the International Truck of the Year (IToY) rules, the annual award goes to the truck introduced into the market in the previous 12 months, making the most significant contribution to road transport efficiency. This judgment relies on several critical criteria, including technological innovation, comfort, safety, driveability, energy efficiency, environmental ‘footprint,’ and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
For the first time in the history of the International Truck of the Year award, whose roots date back to 1977, an electric truck in series production wins this prize. Moreover, four vehicles out of five on this year’s IToY award shortlist are battery-electric models with zero tailpipe emissions.
This is proof that the energy transition is gaining momentum in the transportation sector, even though a suitable enabling ecosystem for BEV is still not in place in the European Union.
The IToY journalists praised the performance, the seamless acceleration, the quietness, and the vibration-free behaviour of the efficient electric powertrain of the FH Electric, based on two or three electric motors of 330kW or 490kW continuous power, coupled with the latest generation I-Shift gearbox.
Equally crucial in the winning score of FH Electric for regional cargo transport was the vast offer of axle configurations for prime movers and rigids, the availability of four cab versions, and the modular portfolio of battery packs, from two to six, according to the transport task requirements.
“With the introduction of the FH Electric Volvo Trucks has delivered a state-of-the-art BEV range, suitable for a wide array of transport operations,” said Gianenrico Griffini, International Truck of the Year Chairman, when summing up the jury vote. “It’s proof that energy transition is gaining strength even in today’s challenging business environment.”
The International Truck of the Year (IToY) award was initially launched in 1977 by the British journalist and legendary editor of TRUCK magazine Pat Kennett. Today, the 24 jury members represent leading commercial vehicle magazines throughout Europe. Moreover, in the last few years, the IToY Group has extended its influence by appointing associate members in the growing truck markets of China, India, South Africa, Australia, Brazil, Japan, Iran, New Zealand, Israel, and Malaysia. The combined truck operator readership of the 24 IToY full-jury members’ magazines and those of its ten associate members exceeds 1,100,000.
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