OEM INTERVIEW
“YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN SOMETHING. I BELIEVE IN
TECHNOLOGY AND I BELIEVE IN THE PEOPLE WE HAVE
CREATING IT. I BELIEVE IN WHAT I CAN HEAR FROM
OUR CUSTOMERS TODAY AND FROM OUR POTENTIAL
with 5G you minimise that to
almost nothing, and you also
have much better quality images,
and that makes driving easier.”
The 5G tests, still ongoing in
Eskilstuna, are ultimately paving
the way for a safer, more
efficient, more sustainable
future. One that will certainly also
incorporate advanced high-speed
telematics and could even
lead to direct vehicle-to-vehicle
communication and fully
autonomous systems.
Leading electrification
But what of the more immediate
future? At Volvo CE, to risk a wellworn
cliché, the future is now. The
OEM has recently embarked on
what is surely one of the industry’s
most ambitious electrification
projects – not simply releasing
a one-off electric machine, but
committing to electrify a whole
range of compact machinery, while
simultaneously discontinuing diesel
16 iVTInternational.com November 2019
FUTURE CUSTOMERS”
equivalents (you can read more
about Volvo CE’s electrification
journey over the next 10 pages).
“We’ve been innovations leaders
since 1832,” says Jernberg. “And we
now want to be leaders in electromobility.
But what is leadership? We
can talk about these things, of
course, and we do talk. But if you
really believe in something, then
you also need to do something.
“But we cannot only do things
because they are nice to do. Because
we also have a business to run and I
am responsible for that. So, there are
lots of difficult decisions to make.
But, I can promise you, that if we
didn’t have the atmosphere we have
in this company, and the people we
have, then these decisions would not
be made, because they cannot be
justified on simple business cases.
For example, we know what the cost
of a battery is today, but we don’t
know what it will be next summer.
And we don’t know how big the
market for these machines will be,
so we don’t know what our
percentage share will be worth.
“So, you need to believe in
something. I believe in technology
and I believe in the people we have
creating it. I believe in what I can
hear from our customers today and
our from potential future customers.
I believe that we’re now in the right
moment, where politicians and
government will start to take
decisions in this direction. But,
when is the right time to launch
something that makes it possible to
take these new directions? Who
should start? It’s a question of
timing. You can debate when is the
right time. We have decided the
right time is now.
“If you don’t like big challenges,
you should do something else!
Otherwise you will never sleep!
When we say ‘Build Tomorrow’ we
believe in that. You can actively take
part in that or you can let someone
else pave the way – and we like to
be the leader.” iVT
Melker Jernberg, president, Volvo CE
TOP: 5G testing in Eskilstuna
ABOVE: Volvo’s ECR25
Electric compact excavator
/iVTInternational.com
