As electric trucks move from trial phase to day-to-day operations, fleet buyers are starting to challenge one of the earliest assumptions of electrification: that more battery is always better.
According to Michael Bridge, Director – National Fleet at Volvo Group Australia, the conversation with fleet customers has shifted noticeably over the past two years.
“We’re seeing customers realise they don’t need the biggest battery possible,” Bridge said. “Battery technology has caught up so much that a smaller configuration can still meet the task, and that’s changing the conversation.”
Moving past range anxiety
Early electric truck deployments were often driven by a desire to eliminate risk, with fleets opting for maximum battery capacity to cover any potential use case. While understandable, Bridge says real-world data is now reshaping those decisions.
“In the early days it was, ‘Just give me as many batteries as I can get,’” he said. “Now we’re having much more mature discussions about what a three-battery or smaller configuration will actually do in the real world.”
That shift is being driven by better understanding of duty cycles, route planning and charging opportunities, rather than headline range figures.
“Customers are starting to look at what the truck actually does day in, day out,” Bridge said. “They’re realising they don’t need to be doing 700 kilometres a day if their operation is 250 or 300 kilometres and they’re back to base every night.”
Whole-of-life cost comes into focus
For fleet decision-makers, battery sizing is increasingly about whole-of-life cost rather than maximum capability.
Smaller battery packs can reduce upfront vehicle cost, lower tare weight and, in some cases, improve payload flexibility. They can also shorten charging times and reduce infrastructure requirements.
“Once the business case works, it can work really well,” Bridge said, noting that electric trucks are no longer being evaluated in isolation. “It’s total cost of ownership, safety, connectivity and how everything works together.”
This more nuanced approach aligns with how fleets already assess diesel vehicles, where engine choice, axle ratios and specifications are matched closely to application.
Better technology, better conversations
Rapid improvements in battery chemistry and energy density are helping accelerate the change in thinking. Bridge pointed to how quickly electric truck capability has evolved since Volvo’s first battery-electric models entered service.
“Battery technology has caught up so much more,” he said. “That’s allowing us to have very different conversations now compared to even a few years ago.”
Rather than overspecifying vehicles “just in case”, fleets are increasingly comfortable right-sizing electric trucks to their actual task — and adjusting as confidence grows.
Fit-for-purpose electrification
The main message is a practical one: successful electrification isn’t about chasing the longest range or the biggest battery, but about matching the vehicle to the job.
“We’ve always said you’ve got to find the right application for the truck,” Bridge said. “Once you do that and the business case stacks up, it really can work very well.”
As more electric trucks enter service and share performance data across the industry, Bridge expects this fit-for-purpose mindset to become the norm rather than the exception.
