EDITORIAL: Hybrids are having a moment

Manufacturers at the forefront of sustainability efforts and intent on electrifying commercial trucks and off-highway machines still see the necessity to include internal combustion engines in their future product plans. Take Volvo, for example. At the 2024 ACT Expo in Las Vegas, the company reaffirmed its goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions with a 100% fossil-free fleet of vehicles by 2040 (see page 25). And ICE will remain a staple.

“The internal combustion engine will continue to exist in the future - after 2040, after 2050. Then we can ask ourselves, what kind of fuel do we use, to what extent are we able to use fossil-free fuels like HVO,” Peter Voorhoeve, president of Volvo Trucks North America, said at ACT Expo during a CEO Roundtable on Scaling Vehicle Electrification. “The internal combustion engine will [celebrate] its 200th birthday in my opinion.”