No, BMW isn’t venturing into the electric truck business. However, it is using a zero-emission big rig to ship new cars to dealers in the Paris region. The automaker’s French division is running a pilot program until the end of the first quarter of 2025. CEVA Logistics’ zero-emission truck is a Volvo FM that covers about 270 kilometers (168 miles) each day.
The purely electric truck has been adapted to serve as a car transporter. It’s estimated to cover around 30,000 kilometers (18,641 miles) until the trial ends by late March next year. BMW France mentions its batteries are charged twice a day, usually between trips. When it heads back to the platform in Marly-la-Ville in the evening, it’s juiced up at a dedicated charging station.
This Volvo FM is just one of 450 electric trucks that CEVA Logistics operates for other logistics purposes across Europe. CEVA Logistics and BMW Group France teamed up in 2018 to ship BMW and MINI cars to dealers across France. Almost 90,000 vehicles are handled annually at CEVA Logistics’ platforms in Marly-la-Ville, Marckolsheim, and Le Havre.
The trial run could be extended after the pilot program ends. An analysis will be done to assess how much the electric truck helps with decarbonization. The BMW Group wants to cut CO2 emissions per car in the value chain by 40% by the end of this decade, compared to 2019 levels. It also wants recycled materials to account for 50% in 2030 when the luxury brand projects EVs will represent half of its annual sales. MINI and Rolls-Royce will stop selling cars with combustion engines around that time.
This isn’t the first time BMW is using an electric truck. Last month, we reported on Designwerks’ two EV workhorses transporting battery cells and modules from the BMW Allee warehouse to the battery production center at the Leipzig factory in Germany.
Source: BMW France
