GEODIS orders 110 electric trucks for French network

GEODIS has placed a firm order for 110 battery electric 44-tonne trucks for French transport operations, pairing the fleet expansion with a charging network intended to support both urban distribution and longer distance road freight.

Renault Trucks and Volvo Trucks will supply the vehicles for delivery by May 2027. Once they enter service, GEODIS expects its European Road Network operation to run 190 electric trucks.

The deployment extends beyond short urban routes, which makes charging strategy central to the project. GEODIS intends to use the trucks for both city deliveries and longer movements in France, requiring energy infrastructure away from a vehicle’s home depot.

The company is therefore developing electric corridors along principal French routes, with charging opportunities planned at intervals of approximately 250 to 500 kilometres.

GEODIS currently has access to around 60 charging points and plans to increase that figure to more than 200 by 2030. Building infrastructure alongside the vehicle fleet reduces the risk of electric trucks entering service before operators have enough places to charge them productively.

Heavy freight creates a different charging problem from private cars because commercial vehicles have to maintain high utilisation while carrying substantial payloads and meeting fixed collection or delivery windows.

A truck that spends too much of its operating day waiting for energy may require additional vehicles to move the same freight. Charging time therefore influences fleet productivity as directly as vehicle range.

Dispatch planning also becomes energy planning. Operators need to know the expected distance, load, road conditions and available charging locations before assigning an electric truck to a movement, while charging stops have to fit around delivery appointments and driver hours.

The 250 to 500 kilometre spacing does not represent a guaranteed vehicle range. Energy consumption changes with model, payload, speed, weather and terrain, but the corridor approach provides a network of possible charging points around which transport planners can build routes.

Infrastructure power is as important as its location. A charger may sit conveniently on the route but still be unsuitable if a vehicle has to wait for access or remain connected for too long, particularly when several heavy trucks need energy at the same site.

The 110 vehicles will come from two brands within Volvo Group. GEODIS has not disclosed the split between Renault Trucks and Volvo Trucks or identified the individual models included in the order.

A mixed fleet can provide procurement flexibility, although maintenance, spare parts and charging characteristics still have to be managed across the different vehicle specifications that eventually enter operation.

GEODIS places the order within its wider emissions-reduction programme. Heavy road freight remains difficult to decarbonise because trucks require substantial energy and often spend long periods away from fixed operating bases.

Battery electric vehicles remove tailpipe emissions during operation, while the full carbon outcome also depends on electricity generation and vehicle manufacture. For freight customers, the immediate operational change is the ability to allocate selected movements to lower direct-emission vehicles without changing transport mode.

Urban distribution is generally easier to electrify because vehicles cover predictable distances and often return to the same depot. Longer routes require a broader charging network, making GEODIS’s corridor programme more significant than the truck order on its own.

The growing fleet should also increase utilisation of the charging infrastructure. Fixed electrical assets become more economical when enough vehicles use them, while trucks become easier to schedule when several compatible charging locations are available rather than one depot serving every journey.

Grid connections, civil works and electrical equipment can take longer to deliver than vehicles, creating a sequencing problem for fleet operators. GEODIS’s plan to continue expanding beyond 200 charging points through 2030 suggests infrastructure deployment will carry on after the initial 110 trucks have arrived.

The order does not mean every French road freight movement can move immediately onto battery electric vehicles. Range, payload, charging time and route characteristics will still determine which work is suitable.

Instead, GEODIS is expanding the number of movements that can be assigned to electric trucks while creating the supporting infrastructure needed to extend their use beyond local distribution.

By May 2027, the programme will move from procurement into daily fleet management. Its performance will depend on whether vehicle range, charger availability and transport planning can work together closely enough to keep the new trucks productive across both urban and longer distance freight.