The Pioneer Electric will come equipped with a proprietary Mack e-axle and Proterra batteries. (Mack Trucks North America)
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mack Trucks pulled back the curtain April 29 on plans to launch a battery-electric version of the Volvo Group division’s recently unveiled flagship on-highway Class 8 tractor, the Pioneer.
The order book for the Pioneer Electric will open in 2026, Mack said when unveiling the plans at the 2025 Advanced Clean Transportation Expo. A spokeswoman for Mack said more details on when the order book will open and serial production begin were not yet available.
Mack said the tractor will be available in day cab or 44-inch short sleeper configurations. It will come equipped with a proprietary Mack e-axle and Proterra batteries.
Volvo Group bought Proterra Powered at auction for $210 million in November 2023 after its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection in August 2023.
The truck maker expects to target regional haul, drayage and hub-and-spoke operators with the tractor.
Randall
“Mack is proud that we not only introduced the Mack Pioneer, our most fuel-efficient and aerodynamic highway truck, but just three weeks later we are now also announcing that we will produce a Mack Pioneer battery-electric vehicle,” Mack Trucks North America President Jonathan Randall said in a statement.
“Mack has never rested on its laurels. We are celebrating our 125th anniversary this year, so we have both the legacy of Mack behind us, as well as the historical proven innovation that Mack has contributed to the trucking industry. We are proud to be leaders in sustainable transportation solutions,” he added.
“They’re going to fly off the shelf,” Randall confidently told conference attendees.
Mack Trucks unveiled the Pioneer against the backdrop of the Brooklyn Bridge on April 8.
Catch the ALL-NEW Mack Pioneer at #ACTExpo.
We’ll be at booth 4557 with #TheNewStandard in long-haul efficiency, comfort, and design.
April 28–30
Anaheim Convention Center, CA pic.twitter.com/fMWX34FVUb— Mack Trucks (@MackTrucks) April 23, 2025
The Pioneer joins the Anthem, which made its debut in September 2017, in Mack’s Class 8 on-highway lineup.
Currently, the longhaul, on-highway segment is what Volvo Group CEO Martin Lundstedt on April 23 termed during the company’s first quarter of 2025 analyst call “in reality, an almost absent type of segment for Mack.”
Mack holds around 1.2%-1.6% of the longhaul segment at present, the parent company’s top executive said, as the competition was too hot for the Anthem, with buyers limited to Mack loyalists.
Lundstedt
“We have high but realistic ambitions [for the Pioneer],” said Lundstedt, suggesting 5%-6% of the longhaul segment was likely, even without sacrificing the tractor’s price point and Volvo Group margins.
Mack’s existing battery lineup comprises the MD Electric and LR Electric refuse truck. The MD Electric is available in Classes 6-7 configurations.
The Pioneer and Pioneer Electric — plus sister company Volvo Trucks North America’s redesigned VNL longhaul, VNL Electric and VNR regional-haul tractors — are part of ambitions to grow Volvo Group’s North American Class 8 market share to 25% by 2030.
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VTNA provided a first glimpse of the battery-electric configuration of its own flagship tractor — a VNL 440 Electric — during a media event at its customer center in June 2024. Orders for the VNL Electric are expected to open in the last couple of months of 2025 or at the beginning of 2026.
In the first quarter of 2025, VTNA’s heavy-duty truck market share fell to 7.2% from 9.1% a year earlier while Mack’s market share rose to 6.9% from 5.3%, Volvo Group said in its most recent results.
VTNA won a 10.2% share of U.S. Class 8 retail sales in 2024, while Mack Trucks captured a 6.9% share, according to Wards Intelligence data. In 2023, VTNA had a 10% slice of the pie and Mack Trucks 6.8%.
Meanwhile, Mack also announced on April 29 it is seeking certification of two new variants of the MP 13 engine that it expects will meet the California Air Resources Board 2024 Omnibus requirements for nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions standards.
The CARB 2024 Omnibus-compliant engines, rated at 425 horsepower and 1,750 pound-feet of torque or 455 hp and 1,850 pound-feet of torque, will be available for the Pioneer.
