Truck OEM Scania has joined with digital road freight forwarder sennder Technologies to form a joint venture called JUNA, to advance electric truck adoption and promote electric solutions in road freight logistics across Europe.

Berlin-based JUNA is introducing an innovative pay-per-use model for electric trucks. The upfront cost of an electric truck is far higher than that of a legacy diesel model, so fleet buyers need a way to leverage the TCO savings. By offering access to guaranteed loads on sennder’s digital platform, JUNA is designed to mitigate the financial challenges of electrification by providing transport companies with commercial predictability through guaranteed incomes.

sennder Technologies offers shippers access to a connected fleet of thousands of trucks on its digital logistics platform. sennder deploys over 40,000 trucks across Europe, offers access to more than 120,000 vehicles, and has a team of over 1,000. By combining Scania’s electric trucks and tailored services with sennder’s technology for connecting small and medium carriers with big-name shippers, JUNA aims to leverage the strength of both companies.

JUNA’s model offers a turnkey package, including vehicles, repair, maintenance, insurance and analytics services. In addition to usage-based fees and guaranteed utilization, JUNA offers data analysis to optimize electrification strategies and simulate routes for electric truck suitability.

The JV has recently launched a pilot project. The first customer (“a well-known FMCG shipper in the region of Stuttgart”) is using an electric truck supplied by JUNA, and performing up to ten lanes per week—the same as its diesel predecessor. The pilot’s scope will be expanded to include long-distance routes during 2024. The project relies on existing public charging infrastructure, and JUNA says per-kilometer energy costs are comparable to current diesel charges.

David Nothacker, CEO of sennder, says: “Given that e-trucks cost two to three times more than diesel trucks and that 70 percent of all trucks in Europe are owned by small carriers with fewer than 10 trucks, the combination of JUNA’s pay-per-use offering and sennder’s capacity utilisation will effectively remove the barriers to adopting e-trucks.”

Source: Scania