It only takes four and a half hours to build a 44-tonne heavy goods vehicle from two simple steel beams on one of the two assembly lines at the Renault Trucks plant, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year in Bourg-en-Bresse, Ain. Two thousand people work here, 20% of them women, from 7 a.m. to 3:37 p.m. This September, two of the 115 vehicles that slowly pass through the plant each day are leaving the assembly line incomplete. The engine and gearbox, as well as the transmission arm, will be inserted into their insides at the very end, on a third, dedicated finishing line.
These road giants are not ordinary, they are the all-new E-Tech electric vehicles that Renault Trucks has been producing in series since November 2023. “They give an idea of the upheaval taking place in factories, where combustion vehicles will increasingly have to coexist with battery-powered vehicles.explains Jean-François Risselin, communications director of the Bourg-en-Bresse site. The impact on space management and staff skills is enormous.”
The profession now has a clear idea of its destiny. “The battery has taken the lead in the race for decarbonization”says Régis Pierrelle, Renault Trucks’ director of electromobility operations. It was about time: the European Union’s latest objective, revised upwards in June, is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from trucks by 15% in 2025 for all new vehicles sold by manufacturers, compared to 2019. Then by 45% in 2030, and by 90% in 2040.
“Incredible technological disruption”
Until then, flexibility is required in the Bresse workshops of the subsidiary of the Swedish Volvo. On their designated finishing line, electric heavy goods vehicles must meet the deadline of four and a half hours, so as not to penalize the production of thermal vehicles. A race against time. “Bringing our E-Tech into the “time of passage” usual is our main challenge »Mr. Risselin points out. Instead of having liquid fuel tanks grafted onto them, electric trucks receive between four and six battery packs, each containing 3,600 Samsung cells. Range: 300 kilometers. The engine is positioned between these packs, while, under the cabin, where the diesel engine is usually located, the brain of the truck is slipped in, “a kind of electrical cabinet, a real concentrate of intelligence”explains Mr. Pierrelle.
You have 78.88% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
