South African truck assemblers are lobbying for two concessions from government as the world increasingly moves to electric mobility, says Volvo Trucks South Africa (Volvo Trucks SA) MD Waldemar Christensen.

“It’s a chicken and egg situation,” he explains. “The current demand for electric trucks is at such a low level in South Africa that it makes no sense to assemble these vehicles at our local plant.

“So, we have to import them, which means we have to pay a 20% duty, which means that an already expensive product becomes even more expensive – which means there is little demand for these trucks.

“On top of this duty, there is also no government-backed incentive to buy a zero-emission electric vehicle, as is the case in Europe and some countries elsewhere,” adds Christensen.

Volvo Trucks SA two years ago introduced its first electric trucks to the local market.

To date, the company has six of these vehicles on South African roads.

At the current cost level, local transport companies can only expect to break even in five to six years if they buy an electric truck, explains Christensen.

“The companies which buy these trucks are typically those that have a policy to go green, as well as those able to take a longer-term view on total cost of ownership.

“They also typically have solar installations at their depots to charge the trucks – they understand the business case.”

Christensen says Volvo Trucks SA introduced electric trucks because it wanted to “walk the talk”, and not pay mere lip-service to being a more sustainable truck company.

This means the local arm of the Swedish truck maker will continue to sell electric trucks in South Africa, but it would, however, welcome assistance from government to make these vehicles more competitive.

Volvo Trucks SA is not alone in this effort. It is lobbying government along with other local truck makers through industry body naamsa | The Automotive Business Council.

“As an industry we want government to give us an import duty holiday for four to five years, so that we can create a local market for electric trucks, and then revisit the possibility of local assembly,” says Christensen.

“Local production needs scale.”

Volvo Trucks SA would also like some concessions on the permitted, road-legal payload and length of an electric truck-trailer combination.

Because of an electric truck’s heavy battery load, Europe has allowed for these trucks to have an additional two-ton payload so that they can offer the same payload as a truck with an internal combustion engine.

They are also allowed to be longer in truck-trailer combination, as electric trucks have a longer wheelbase.

Christensen would like for the South African authorities to allow for the same payload and length increases.

“Large fleets already have existing trailers in place,” he explains.

“By allowing electric truck-trailer combinations to be between 50 cm and 110 cm longer, fleet operators can use their existing trailers when they buy an electric truck, and not spend R2-million to R3-million on a new, shorter trailer, on top of buying a new truck.”

The Local Truck Market
Volvo Trucks SA ended 2024 in third place in the extra-heavy truck market, but staged a comeback to second place in two of the first four months of this year.

“The market started to lose traction last year as the commodity cycle showed signs of cooling towards the end of 2023, which led us to reduce production capacity at our Durban plant in 2024,” says Christensen.

“We’ve been superstrong in the commodity upturn, so we are working to diversify our market.

“We are also focusing on keeping our promise of being the manufacturer which gives the most uptime.

“We are a premium product available at a premium cost, but we also provide premium uptime.”

Christensen expects a recovering Transnet to take back some market share from road, largely in the commodities market.

“We have spoken to some big transport operators and they believe this is going to happen.”

However, it is “not a bad thing”, notes Christensen. “We need a balance between road and rail, as is the case all over the world.”

Volvo Trucks SA sold around 2 600 trucks in 2023, dipping to 2 000 in 2024, and it forecasts selling roughly 1 800 units this year.

Christensen expects a total extra-heavy domestic truck market of 13 500 to 14 000 units this year.