Letter of intent to see auto manufacturer provide European building giant with up to 1,000 zero emission trucks by 2030

The fledgling zero emission truck market received a major boost today, as Volvo Trucks announced it has signed a letter of intent to sell 1,000 electric trucks between now and 2030 to Holcim, one of the world's largest building solution providers.

The record-breaking order - financial details for which were not disclosed - will see the first 130 Volvo FH and Volvo FM trucks delivered to Holcim in 2023 and 2024.

The Switzerland-headquartered building services giant is expected to deploy the trucks across its operations in France, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK from the fourth quarter of this year.

Martin Lundstedt, President and CEO at Volvo Group, said the deal was part of a longer term partnership between the two companies. "Long-term collaboration and a strong commitment to really make a difference are essential for making big CO2 reductions a reality," he said. "I'm very proud of the partnership we have developed with Holcim, and the results we are achieving together."

His comments were echoed by Jan Jenisch, chairman and CEO of Holcim, who said: "The net zero transition requires deep collaboration across value chains. We are excited to be partnering with Volvo to decarbonise our European operations' logistics with electric fleets, advancing our goal to reach 30 per cent of zero-emission heavy-duty trucks by 2030."

The companies said the full roll out of 1,000 electric trucks was expected to result in up to 50,000 tonnes of CO2 savings a year, assuming the trucks replace existing diesel HGVs and use green power.

The deal is the latest major milestone for the global First Movers Coalition, of which both firms are a part. The group of leading corporates, which was launched at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow in 2021, aims to bring together developers of emerging clean technologies and corporate clients that can deploy the technology at scale and help create the market demand that can drive investment in production capacity and help reduce costs.