Scania CV AB, a worldwide company in transport solutions, and sennder Technologies GmbH, a European digital road freight forwarder, have established a new joint venture, called JUNA.
In particular, the new partnership aims to promote electric solutions in road logistics throughout Europe and has already seen a successful launch in Germany.
Its primary objective is to accelerate the widespread adoption of electric trucks on a large scale in Europe, aligning with the European Union’s Green Deal goals for achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and driving the transition toward a sustainable logistics industry.
Berlin-based JUNA has introduced an innovative payment model for electric trucks that aims to facilitate the widespread adoption of these vehicles, even though they are two to three times more expensive than traditional trucks.
Moreover, JUNA’s approach enables access to electric trucks and guaranteed transportation capacities by offering access to both one-time and long-term loads through sennder’s digital platform.
This, in turn, eliminates the hurdles that carriers typically face when considering electric truck adoption, including the financial challenges associated with high initial costs and resale value concerns. JUNA also provides carriers with commercial predictability by ensuring their electric trucks are consistently utilised.
Recently, a pilot programme was effectively initiated, involving an initial carrier operating a JUNA electric truck powered by renewable energy. This occurred up to ten times a week, serving an FMCG shipper and a sennder customer in the Stuttgart area of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
With the potential to reduce 93 tonnes of CO2e emissions annually for the first truck alone, the program will be extended in 2024 to cover long-distance routes.
David Nothacker, CEO of sennder, commented, “This is a pivotal moment for our industry and we are excited to be partnering with Scania to create a joint venture that will propel e-truck’s widespread adoption. Given that e-trucks cost two to three times more than diesel trucks and that 70% of all trucks in Europe are owned by small carriers with less than 10 trucks, the combination of JUNA’s pay-per-use offering and sennder’s capacity utilization will effectively remove the barriers to adopting e-trucks.”
