Scania’s green transition is lagging

Europe slows down. But Latin America is maintaining demand for trucks from Södertälje-based Scania – for a while longer, anyway, according to CEO Christian Levin.

The green transition is still lagging, he warns at the same time. The backlog compared to goals and plans has worsened since last autumn.

– Record in deliveries. Record in results. Record cash flow and also a market share in both Europe and Latin America that we have rarely seen, says Scania CEO Christian Levin about the first quarter.

– We build what we have to build. We build it on time. And it reaches the customers in more or less the promised lead time, he adds.

Problems with green conversion

The strong desire for Scania trucks in Latin America at the moment means that they have moved production for, for example, Chile to Europe.

– We build the trucks in the European system that we ship to Chile, in order to free up the volume we need in Brazil, says Levin.

This enables a balancing where Scania does not have to reduce production in Europe when demand declines there.

– Then we can keep up the pace of production, at least as the situation looks now and as I can see into the future. It feels incredibly good.

However, the problems with the green transition – including due to delays in deliveries of fossil-free truck batteries from Northvolt – have worsened since last autumn. In October, Levin flagged that Scania was lagging behind in the changeover by about a year compared to set goals and plans.

– There is probably even a little more “lag” (backlog) now, he says.

At the same time, the demand for electric trucks is hampered by the fact that customers cannot get the same profitability in them as they can get with fossil-powered alternatives.

“There must be a charging post as well”

Levin calls for action:

– We need to see lower electricity prices, higher fossil fuel prices or taxes that come in and regulate this. We also need to see faster expansion of infrastructure.

– We have shown technically that it works. You can charge 600 kilowatt hours in 20 minutes. But there must be a charging post as well. That is the big challenge.

The goal of meeting the EU requirements for a 47 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 remains. But action is urgent, according to Levin.

– In the world of industry, 2030 is tomorrow.