Volvo CE starts producing electric compactor in U.S.

Production of Volvo Construction Equipment’s electric machine lineup is coming to America.

Federal, state, and local officials were recently welcomed to the company’s North American headquarters in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, to commemorate the local design and production of the company's first electric asphalt compactor, the DD25, and the opening of a new 20,000-square-foot technical training center on the same campus.

Volvo’s current lineup of electric equipment includes the L20 Electric and L25 Electric wheel loaders, the EC18 Electric, ECR18 Electric, and ECR25 Electric excavators, and the DD25 Electric asphalt compactor.

In addition, Volvo Trucks recently delivered its first Volvo FMX electric four-axle concrete mixer.

The wheel loaders and compact excavators started arriving on jobsites last year.

Both the DD25 electric compactor and the 22-metric-ton EC230 Electric excavator were unveiled at ConExpo 2023.

Not yet commercially available, the EC230 is currently being tested in the North American market after having been reviewed in South Korea and China.

The DD25 Electric compactor sprang from a crowdsourcing project within the Shippensburg compaction engineering team, using scrum methodologies, and building on Volvo CE’s existing electric equipment platform. Online order reservations also opened at that time.

Volvo is expected to receive a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a pilot testing project of the DD25 Electric in Southern California.

The company’s goal is to have 35% of its product line electric by 2030.

Production of the DD25 has gotten underway at the Shippensburg facility, the first of Volvo’s electric products to be produced in North America. The first models are expected to be delivered in early 2024.

“This is a monumental day at Volvo CE,” said Scott Young, acting president of Region North America, Volvo CE. “Manufacturing electric machines in Shippensburg is good news for the environment, our customers, the local economy, and the broader U.S. construction equipment industry.”

The DD25 Electric is being manufactured on the same assembly line as Volvo diesel asphalt and soil compactors. Volvo says this allows the site to expand production capacity without increasing its footprint or incurring significant costs to retool the factory.

The company also is investing heavily in training for its employees, providing over 800 total hours of instruction on electric equipment production concepts and processes.

“We have a talented workforce and the perfect space at this location to set ourselves up for ongoing development and production of industry-changing machines,” said Gustavo Casagrandi, head of operations at the Shippensburg plant. “Some of the world’s best engineers and production team members are right here, building the future of construction.”

Combining Volvo’s asphalt compactor platform with battery power, the DD25 Electric offers 24 kW of available power, 30% more than the conventional Volvo DD25B.Volvo CE