Sustainability Talks #76 in summary: Riding the Wave of Innovation
Riding the Wave of Innovation: How Gustaf Sundell and Scania Are Driving the Future of Sustainable Transport
Gustaf Sundell, Executive Vice President and Head of Ventures and New Business at Scania Group, speaks with the conviction and clarity of someone who not only sees the future but is building it. In a candid and wide-ranging interview for Sustainability Talks, Sundell paints a vivid picture of the changing landscape of transport, innovation, and sustainability. His passion for circularity, entrepreneurial risk-taking, and pragmatic transformation comes through not only in words but in the impressive progress his team at Scania is making.
”If you want to catch a great wave,” Sundell begins with a surfer’s metaphor, ”you have to be in the water.” It sets the tone for the conversation: this is about action, not observation. Scania is in the water—investing, building, failing, learning, and integrating innovations into its core. This proactive mindset is driving meaningful shifts in a sector central to global sustainability efforts.
From Iraq to the Executive Board
Sundell’s journey is itself a story of resilience and adaptability. Born Swedish with American roots, he began working summer jobs at Scania before launching into international ventures. One early assignment took him to Iraq, where he helped establish Scania’s operations, complete with armored vehicles and bulletproof vests. ”It was extremely rewarding being part of the build-up of a country,” he recalls, even helping establish a vocational school with the UN and SIDA that still operates today.
From Iraq to Thailand to China, and now as Head of Strategy and Ventures, Sundell’s path mirrors the evolving global scope of Scania’s mission: creating prosperity through mobility while tackling the emissions that come with it.
A Shift in Purpose
Founded in 1891, Scania is no stranger to evolution. But the last decade marked a decisive transformation. ”We realized that given where CO2 emissions were taking the planet, we had to change the purpose of the company,” Sundell explains. That new purpose? ”To drive the shift toward a sustainable transport system.”
That mission shapes every aspect of Scania’s operations—especially how it approaches innovation, technology adoption, and regional strategy. ”In Europe, it’s electrification. In Brazil, it’s biofuels,” Sundell says. The goal is the same: reduce emissions without sacrificing the lifeblood of economies—transport.
Total Cost of Ownership: The Heart of Adoption
Electric trucks are three times more expensive upfront. But Sundell emphasizes the importance of evaluating total cost of ownership (TCO). ”Our customers aren’t buying a lifestyle, they’re buying production machinery,” he notes. That machinery must generate profit.
To bridge the adoption gap, Scania employs creative financing and business models. Monthly installment plans tied to specific jobs, for example, help mitigate risk for smaller carriers. ”We find ways to bring down the risk of adoption for our customer base,” he says.
Building Circularity into the Core
Scania has long focused on lifecycle thinking, offering second-hand trucks and repair services globally. But circularity is going deeper now, changing the very optimization logic of the company. ”It sounds like a minor shift,” Sundell says, ”but it changes where you direct the optimization guns.”
Ownership models, leasing structures, and predictive maintenance are now built around maximizing asset value and reducing waste. In short, Scania isn’t just selling trucks; it’s building systems of mobility.
The Dual Engine: Investment and Growth
Under Sundell’s leadership, Scania’s Ventures and New Business unit operates like an internal private equity firm with two portfolios:
▶ Investment Portfolio: Venture capital-style minority investments that expand Scania’s strategic understanding and financial returns.
▶ Growth Portfolio: Internal ventures that are built, scaled, and eventually transferred into the core business.
”A great exit for us is when something becomes core,” Sundell explains. Everything is designed to eventually integrate with the mothership.
This dual-track model allows Scania to move fast, test new ideas, and bring only the most viable ones into full-scale implementation. It’s also deliberately cohesive. Unlike companies that separate venture arms and internal innovation units, Scania keeps them under one roof. ”It’s about building with core, for core,” says Sundell.
Strategic Stars and Constellations
One of the most powerful ideas Sundell shares is the concept of building ”stars” that can be connected into ”constellations.” Each star is a scalable venture, like depot charging (Irinian) or digital driver development for autonomous vehicles. As standalone businesses, they offer value; together, they form a powerful ecosystem.
This approach allows flexibility and modularity while still enabling system-level change. It’s both strategic and poetic. ”When you orchestrate flows, you can orchestrate autonomous vehicles,” Sundell adds, showing the deeper thinking behind these business models.
Ventures that Matter
Examples abound of how these strategies come to life. Irinian, Scania’s depot charging venture, launched just last summer and is already active in seven European markets. It’s designed to support the reality that 80% of truck charging will happen at home depots.
Scania is also a joint investor in Milence, which aims to accelerate highway charging infrastructure. And in Juna, a joint venture with logistics tech company Sender, Scania combines per-use electric trucks with guaranteed job orders. This radically reduces adoption risk for small carriers.
”Our typical European customer has seven trucks. To adopt BEVs is a huge risk for them,” Sundell explains. Juna changes the game by offering an all-in-one solution.
Embracing the Unknown Unknowns
Scania’s venture investments also stretch into the future. ”You should invest in the unknown unknowns,” says Sundell. Areas like AI and quantum computing are being explored through the VC lens, helping Scania build strategic foresight.
Even more striking is the culture behind this innovation. One of Scania’s three core leadership principles is explicitly about entrepreneurship: ”Dare to try and manage the risk.”
This mindset pervades not just R&D but also Scania’s commercial operations across 100+ countries. ”There’s a lot of innovation happening near the customer,” Sundell says. ”It gets powerful when 60,000 people worldwide are empowered to try.”
The Challenge and Opportunity of Infrastructure
Despite technological readiness, Europe lags behind China in electrification of heavy transport. In December alone, China saw 30% market share for heavy battery electric vehicles (BEVs); in Europe, it was just 2% for the whole year.
”Europe needs to build the basic infrastructure: the grid, electricity, charging,” Sundell asserts. Accelerating demand is equally important to avoid falling behind. And with China building the entire electric transport supply chain rapidly, there’s real urgency for Europe to catch up.
The Future is Circular and Connected
From digital twins to predictive maintenance, Scania is going full-speed toward a data-driven, circular, and service-oriented future. Trucks become not just transport tools, but mobile energy storage, grid balancers, and integrated nodes in a smart, sustainable system.
”A home battery might be 15 kWh. Our trucks have 600,” Sundell notes with a smile. The potential for innovation is staggering.
Even decades-old infrastructure is being repurposed. Scania’s global network of workshops and logistics hubs—built over years to support diesel trucks—is now becoming the backbone of circular service models.
Final Thoughts: Be in the Water
As the interview draws to a close, Sundell returns to his surfing metaphor: ”You can’t desktop study your way into a future position. You have to be in the water.”
This spirit of engagement, experimentation, and purposeful entrepreneurship is what sets Scania apart. It isn’t just building trucks; it’s rethinking the entire model of mobility, and doing so in a way that blends sustainability, profitability, and systemic change.
In a world grappling with climate urgency, Scania’s integrated approach—grounded in reality, but bold in ambition—offers a roadmap for others to follow.
Key Takeaways and Insights
▶ Be in the Water: Innovation requires action, not observation. Scania stays ahead by actively building, failing, learning, and integrating.
▶ Dual Portfolio Strategy: Combining venture capital investments with internal venture building creates a powerful innovation engine.
▶ Purpose-Driven Transformation: Scania’s shift to a sustainability-centered purpose has redefined its strategy and culture.
▶ Regional Pragmatism: Electrification isn’t one-size-fits-all. Scania adapts its technology stack to regional needs (e.g., biofuels in Brazil).
▶ Total Cost of Ownership: Adoption of new tech hinges on financial logic for customers—especially small carriers.
▶ Stars and Constellations: Modular ventures that can integrate into a larger ecosystem offer flexibility and power.
▶ Circularity as a Business Model: Ownership, predictive maintenance, and second-life asset use are reshaping Scania’s operations.
▶ The Power of Culture: Entrepreneurial leadership is baked into Scania’s DNA, enabling risk-taking across its 60,000-employee base.
▶ Urgency in Infrastructure: Europe must accelerate its electrification infrastructure to remain globally competitive.
▶ Systemic Innovation: Scania is not just electrifying trucks but transforming the whole logistics ecosystem through smart, connected, and sustainable systems.