CMA CGM backs joint venture building electric vans for European logistics
Shipping giant joins Renault and Volvo in $720 million push to start producing new light commercial vehicle class by 2026
The French maritime container carrier CMA CGM Group will help fund a $760 million company being formed by Renault Group and Volvo Group to build electric vans for decarbonized logistics applications, the corporations said today.
According to the partners, the European market for electrified vans will triple by 2030, promising a huge opportunity for a brand-new light commercial vehicle (LCV), particularly addressing booming e-commerce and rental businesses.
In pursuit of that market, Renault Group and Volvo Group will contribute $315 million each to launch the new company, with CMA CGM adding $125 million through PULSE, its Energy Fund dedicated to accelerating the decarbonization of transport and logistics sectors. The joint venture is scheduled to start operations early 2024 as a France-based independent corporation, with vehicle production planned to start in 2026.
The vehicles themselves will be a new family of fully electric and software defined vans, built on an electric LCV skateboard platform that will offer high modularity for different body types at low cost and high safety performance. The models will use their Software Defined Vehicle architecture to reduce the global cost of usage for logistics applications by 30% by monitoring the delivery activity and user business performance of each van.
“As a leader in transport and logistics, the CMA CGM Group is proud to join forces with a major European carmaker and a leading global truck maker, Renault Group and Volvo Group, to create this new company of electric vans,” Rodolphe Saadé, chairman and CEO of the CMA CGM Group, said in a release. “This is a comprehensive and innovative partnership: not only are we investing in this project, but we will also bring our know-how and expertise to ensure inbound and outbound logistics, while some of these vehicles could ultimately be used to decarbonize our fleet. Through this new investment by our PULSE Fund in electric mobility, we are pursuing our commitment to accelerate the decarbonization of our activity and our sector.”