Fleet Transport June 2020

VOLVO
FH XXL
& A
Swedish
bedtime
story!
EURO TEST | 13
International Truck of the Year journalist Oliver Willms takes a rather special Volvo
- an FH 540 with extended XXL cab on a 1,250 kilometre journey from Germany
to its Swedish homeland.
It’s 5:45 a.m. on a foggy October morning in the periphery
of Munich: Not everyone’s favourite time to start a test.
But the conditions of daylight, tour planning and the
practicalities of the test drive demand it.
Right from the off, this Volvo FH Globetrotter XXL cab is something
special: Maximum cabin comfort with a coffee machine and a
microwave means that breakfast can be elegantly prepared quickly
inside the cab. This XXL cab is unique for Europe: it’s 25 centimetres
longer than the standard XL model, space which can be converted
directly into a longer and wider bunk. So, size does matter!
The extension to the standard Volvo FH Globetrotter XL cab is
discreetly hidden behind the side flaps attached to cab’s rear section.
Inside, the space gain immediately catches the eye. With impressive
measurements of 107 centimetres wide and just under 220 centimetres
long the new spring mattress actually invites the driver to stretch
out fully. Especially since a third of the wide bed can be raised like
that of a couch in the direction of the TV screen.
Unfortunately, the extra-long cabin does not meet the current EU
maximum length dimension for standard articulated trucks. For this
reason and the purposes of the test drive, Volvo Trucks configured this
FH XXL on three air-sprung axles, pulling a shorter silo Feldbinder
semi-trailer in order to comply with maximum length regulations.
For this test, a load of fine sand was being transported on the 1,250
km trip - not on a true test track, but on quite traditional European
motorways as well as a ferry crossing to Gothenburg, Sweden. It
was there, at the home of Volvo Trucks, that we had arranged to
meet the developers of the XXL cabin, which was actually designed
exclusively for the Australian long-haul market.
There was much anticipation ahead of this special long-distance test,
as this unique three-axle FH XXL featured many high-tech fittings
such as dual clutch transmission, electro-hydraulic steering, I-See
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