Volvo CE: ‘Electric vehicles may be unbeatable in the construction world’

Volvo Construction Equipment’s head of brand and partnerships, Arvid Rinaldo, joins EV Powered to delve into why the future of construction is very much electric.

You don’t need to spend much time in Finland to grasp why it has ranked as the world’s happiest country for the last eight consecutive years.

Its sprawling forests are rich and verdant, while the abundant lakes and rivers are full of crystalline water. Education and healthcare is free, while national sports include rallying and ice hockey. Then, of course, there are two of the Finns’ age-old restorative practices – sauna and kalsarikännit.

Construction equipment and pollution

While on-site at the KymiRing to cover the Finnish round of the FIA World Rallycross (World RX) championship, it wasn’t a complete surprise to discover that part of the Finnish state’s duty of care towards its residents is to look after the environment in which they live and for the country to be carbon neutral by 2035.

Across the country, part of this social contract is working with municipalities, the environmental ministry, climate lobbies, and the construction industry to usher in fossil fuel-free worksites. Already, in the capital Helsinki, contracting firms are being offered bonuses via a ‘Green Deal’ to upscale the all-electric, zero emissions construction equipment they use on building projects.

It’s easy to understand the thinking behind such deals – the human impact of construction equipment, especially in urban areas, has been readily apparent for years.

In addition to the annoyance of the noise that comes with building work – let’s face it, we’ve all been woken up by a digger at 5am on a Monday – the European Union has found that exposure to environmental noise over long periods increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and oxidative stress. In fact, an estimated 48,000 new cases of heart disease are related to noise exposure each year.

Moreover, the 5,000 or so diesel excavators operating in London each year have been found by Volvo Construction Equipment (Volvo CE) and the City of London to emit as much carbon monoxide or ‘black carbon’ pollutants as 100,000 diesel cars.

Volvo CE improving efficiency via electrification

So the low-noise, zero-emissions operation of electric diggers, dumpers and more makes perfect sense for local authorities and residents. But it also makes sense for operators, as Arvid Rinaldo – Volvo CE’s chief of brand and partnership – explained when we caught up with him at the KymiRing. At this point, it’s also probably worth noting that Volvo CE is responsible for the all-electric Volvo CE Dealer Team in World RX.

“We already know that you have zero carbon emissions as well as very little noise when you run electric construction equipment, so that’s beneficial in areas like town and city centres,” Rinaldo explains. “From a functionality and operational aspect, though, we’ve seen that electrification can speed up transportation periods, and provide better response times and controllability across our vehicles.

“Everything within our vehicles is electric, so the energy flow in the machine is more efficient and you can control it in a smoother, and more effective way,” he continues. “With a fully electric system, the instant torque means you can direct the energy exactly where you want it to go, making it easier to use. This leads to an overall lesser energy consumption rate than you’d get in a diesel vehicle. Overall, I’d say right now that electric vehicles are maybe unbeatable in the construction world.”

Volvo CE currently offers an entire range of all-electric construction equipment ranging from its smallest product, a 2.6-tonne compact excavator, to the enormous, 39-tonne A40 electric; the world’s first battery-powered articulated hauler. At all rounds of the 2025 World RX season, a fleet of Volvo CE’s EVs are responsible for track construction and maintenance.

How Volvo CE is powering the electric construction revolution

As with electric cars, electric construction equipment has come under fire for “virtue signalling”. It’s often assumed that the batteries powering all-electric telehandlers and the likes are charged via enormous diesel generators, rendering them pointless.

But no. Volvo CE offers “plug and play” power units, which operate in the same way as a mobile phone power bank. Within this range of transportable charging devices, the flagship product is the PU500 offering a massive 540kWh of stored energy.

It also packs 240kW DC charging capability, enabling the rapid charging of construction machinery, cars, and trucks. The PU500’s one- and three-phase outputs can also be used to charge power tools and other related equipment.

Despite the big numbers produced by Volvo Construction Equipment’s portable chargers, Rinaldo is aware of why construction operators may be hesitant – for now, at least – to make the switch to all-electric.

“I completely understand there are some concerns, because you need a working power source to make this work,” the Swede explains. “On the other hand, though, operators can really optimise their working process because while you may need to charge some of our vehicles during a break or something, others will run all day. We have to remember that our industry is very conservative, so this is also an educational exercise for us.”

Motorsport as a showcase

And it’s World Rallycross that serves as that educational tool. The sport introduced EVs in 2021, with the CE Dealer Team arriving in the championship the following year. It’s no secret that motorsport has long-served as a marketing exercise, and Rinaldo doesn’t shy away from the fact.

“I think one of the reasons we’re here in World RX is to showcase what we can do with EVs – our RX1e car has 680bhp and does 0-100 kilometers per hour in under two seconds,” he says. “We’ve also built this KymiRing rallycross track using our fully-electric L120 wheel loader. All of this is to showcase the power of electricity and to educate the market that you can very much work with electric vehicles in the construction sector.

“Sustainability is at the absolute top of everything we do, so our aim is to have the whole carbon footprint of the sport reduced to the bare minimum.”

Zero emission factories, and what’s next in the construction world

While far removed from the car-building world, where sustainability is the buzzword of the moment, Volvo CE is just as keen as Volvo Cars on environmental friendliness and being as green as possible. As well as the zero-emissions charging and operation of its heavy plant equipment, its articulated hauler plant in Braås, Sweden, is the world’s first construction equipment factory to be carbon neutral.

“I don’t know if I can dare to say it, but if you look around, I’m pretty sure that we’re the leaders in this field in our industry,” Rinaldo adds. “We also do environmental declarations for all of our products.”

As we conclude our talk, the CE Dealer Team garage once again becomes a hive of activity. The outfit’s two cars, driven by Niclas Grönholm and Klara Andersson, roll silently back from qualifying sessions, mechanics immediately clamour around them to top up their 52kWh batteries and wipe away any battle scars.

Now’s time to wrap things up with Rinaldo by asking him about the future of electrification in the construction world.

“The biggest things on the horizon – at the moment at least – are the speed of battery development, charging, power availability, the grid, and other green energy sources,” he concludes. “If some other solutions develop that might be even more sustainable, then we’ll explore those, as we’re always striving to look for the most sustainable way forward.

“At the moment, though, we see electric as being the most promising route to take.”