In the wake of the launch of its first full battery electric bus, the BZL, Volvo has announced it is reinforcing its focus on environmental care, by pledging its commitment to ‘ensuring the sustainable management of electric vehicle batteries throughout their lifecycles’.
Volvo Bus Australia general manager, Mitch Peden, detailed VBA’s commitment to deploying a long-term electric vehicle battery sustainability strategy throughout the battery lifecycle to ensure a cleaner future for Australian transport.
“The launch of our Volvo BZL Electric chassis really emphasises Volvo Bus and the wider Volvo Group’s dedication to delivering quality, safe and environmentally friendly transport solutions to our customers,” said Peden.
“Our commitment to deploying a sustainable and circular electric vehicle battery management strategy will further deliver on these values,” he added.
“While it is an exciting time to be in the electromobility space, it is important for the industry to consider the many responsibilities that come with manufacturing and distributing this technology – and sustainable electric vehicle battery management is crucial to consider,” Peden said.
“Here in Australia and globally, the electromobility experts at Volvo Buses have been working hard to ensure that we continue to deploy sustainable operations at every stage of the battery lifecycle, from sourcing to disposal or repurposing, to mitigate social and environmental impacts.
Volvo says that responsible sourcing of electric vehicle battery materials is a key factor for Volvo Bus within Australia and across the globe and that ensuring the sustainable sourcing of raw materials for batteries is important for all stages of the supply chain.
Volvo Bus says it has also recently partnered with Stena Recycling, Sweden’s leading recycling company and a partner for developing sustainable circular solutions, to give Volvo electric bus batteries a second life.
The company says that this partnership has seen the commercial service lives of bus batteries significantly extended, and natural resources conserved, as part of the Stena Recycling subsidiary Batteryloop, where old batteries are removed from Volvo buses, and reused for years as energy storage units.
With demand for local energy storage units expected to increase in the future, these energy storage units provide an innovative means of storing renewable energy, where there is also the potential for surplus energy sold and delivered straight into the grid.
“As we begin to see increasing demand for electric buses in Australia, we will also see an increase in the number of used batteries,” said Peden.
“Volvo Bus globally has done an excellent job at implementing long-term battery management plans and in Australia we are working towards having our own battery sustainability strategy that safeguards every stage of our value chain, from procurement to repurposing. Our circular business cycle and this cooperation is truly a major step in
